Last week, Gen. Michael “Eric” Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command, followed the footsteps of Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, into eastern Syria. Given the vote that occurred in the U.S. House of Representatives at about the same time, the Centcom statement released on Twitter on March 11, could be seen as part of a lobbying effort to keep U.S. troops in Syria.
According to the Centcom statement, there are three aspects to the U.S. ostensible anti-ISIS campaign in Syria: The overall campaign against ISIS at large; the problem of the more than 10,000 ISIS fighters in detention; and the “potential next generation of ISIS,” that is, the children, along with their mothers, who are also held in detention camps throughout eastern Syria. While there, Kurilla “visited with the U.S. forces and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the daily fight against ISIS At Large,” the statement said. “He held discussions with leaders and analysts on the current threat posed by the group as well as progress to date. While the Coalition to Defeat ISIS has significantly degraded the group’s capability, ISIS retains the ability to inspire, direct, organize, and lead attacks in the region and abroad.”
