US commander: Islamic State threat in west Syria growing

The western part of the country has historically been controlled by Russian-backed Syrian government troops, while the US and its allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, have largely been in the north and eastern part of the country. President Donald Trump has touted the defeat of IS as one of his key national security achievements.

Elements of the Islamic State group are working to rebuild in western Syria, where the US has little visibility or presence, the top US commander for the Middle East warned on Wednesday. In the region west of the Euphrates River where the Syrian regime is in control “conditions are as bad or worse” than they were leading up to the rise of the Islamic State, said Gen Frank McKenzie. "We should all be concerned about that.” McKenzie said insurgents are operating with some degree of freedom, and he said the US and its allies have little hope the Syrian regime will do anything to tamp down the group there. The western part of the country has historically been controlled by Russian-backed Syrian government troops, while the US and its allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, have largely been in the north and eastern part of the country.

President Donald Trump has touted the defeat of IS as one of his key national security achievements. He ordered the removal of US forces from the northern border near Turkey, as part of a planned move to pull all American troops out of the country. But he was eventually convinced by US military leaders to leave US forces in the east to continue working with the SDF and help protect oil fields from IS. Speaking online to a United States Institute of Peace forum from his U.S. Central Command office in Tampa, McKenzie said that the slow-moving effort to transfer people out of Syrian refugee camps has been further complicated and delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. And that, he said, fuels concerns about the radicalization of people — particularly the youth — in the camps, which officials worry are breeding grounds for IS insurgents.

The al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria is home to as many as 70,000 people — mostly women and children — who were displaced by the ongoing civil war in Syria and the battle against IS. Many fled as the US-backed SDF cleared out the last pockets of land held by IS last year. Leanne Erdberg Steadman, the USIP director for countering violent extremism, said getting people out of the camps is key to having them abandon violence and secure a new future. Officials said that there have now been the first few reported cases of COVID-19 at al-Hol.(AP) RUP

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)