Syria Mission Worth the Risk, Top US General Says After Rare Visit

NORTHEAST SYRIA—The nearly eight-year-old U.S. deployment to Syria to combat the ISIS terrorist group is still worth the risk, the top U.S. military officer said on Saturday, after a rare, unannounced visit to a dusty base in the country’s northeast to meet U.S. troops.

Army General Mark Milley (chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) flew into Syria to review efforts to counter a resurgence of terrorist groups and to examine safeguards in place for American forces against attack, even from drones flown backed by Iran.

ISIS has become a shadow group of the terrorist group that once controlled a third Syria and Iraq under a Caliphate in 2014. However, there are hundreds of terrorists still living in remote areas, where neither the U.S. coalition nor the Syrian army (with support from Russia-backed militias) have full control.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (America’s main ally) has taken custody of thousands more ISIS fighters.

American officials believe that ISIS can still be regenerated into a serious threat.

The mission, however, is a remnant of a larger global war on terrorism which had once included the war in Afghanistan as well as a much larger U.S. deployment to Iraq.

When asked by journalists who were traveling along with him whether he thought the deployment of approximately 900 U.S. soldiers to Syria was worth it, Milley said that the mission was tied to security for the United States, its allies and the following: “If you think that that’s important, then the answer is ‘Ye