US Army to Fight Qaeda in Syria even after ISIS Defeat

Syrian Arab trainees practice firing their small arms at an undisclosed training range in northern Syria on Saturday, May 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
Syrian Arab trainees practice firing their small arms at an undisclosed training range in northern Syria on Saturday, May 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
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US Army to Fight Qaeda in Syria even after ISIS Defeat

Syrian Arab trainees practice firing their small arms at an undisclosed training range in northern Syria on Saturday, May 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)
Syrian Arab trainees practice firing their small arms at an undisclosed training range in northern Syria on Saturday, May 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Robert Burns)

Col. John Thomas, spokesman for the US Central Command (CENTCOM), said that the international coalition forces would remain in Syria to support the operations of the Arab-Kurdish “Syrian Democratic Forces” until the conclusion of negotiations on a political solution in Geneva.

He added that the US forces would continue to fight terrorist organizations close to “al- Qaeda” in Syria, including al-Nusra Front, “regardless of ISIS presence.”

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat in London, Col. Thomas reviewed the military operations overseen or conducted by the US Central Command in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

He explained that the US was not involved in any way in the civil war in Yemen, adding that his country had three missions there: “The first is to fight Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; the second to combat the Yemeni ISIS, the fighters of which are estimated to be hundreds, mostly Yemenis; and the third task is to support Saudi Arabia in protecting its borders, including protecting it from missiles fired at Saudi cities.”

“We have a small team in Riyadh that supports the Saudis in protecting their borders through the exchange of intelligence information,” Thomas said.

Thomas noted in his talk about the raids carried out by US forces in Yemen, that they were executed in coordination with the Yemeni legitimate authorities, stressing that President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi was notified of all moves.

On the Syrian front, Thomas emphasized that despite the contribution of Russia and Bashar Assad’s regime, the victory over ISIS was mainly the achievement of the Syrian Democratic Forces and the international alliance.

The spokesman said the US would remain in Syria to support the Syrian Democratic Forces until the end of the Geneva talks.

“We continue to train the Syrian security forces in al-Raqqa, as we did in Manbaj, as well as clearing areas, that were controlled by ISIS, from bombs, mines and others,” he said, pointing out that the return of hundreds of thousands of residents to their land and the reconstruction process depend on the establishment of security.

As for the terrorist threat posed by al-Nusra Front, the CENTCOM spokesman stressed the need to distinguish between the mission of the international coalition against ISIS and that of the United States, saying that the US would pursue Qaeda and its affiliated organizations “regardless of the presence of ISIS”.



Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Visits Military Positions in the Country's South

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
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Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Visits Military Positions in the Country's South

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has begun a tour of military positions in the country’s south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group that battered the country.
Najib Mikati on Monday was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the US-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops both expected to withdraw by the end of next month, The Associated Press said.
Mikati’s tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country.
“We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy's (Israel's) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression,” he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. “Then the army can carry out its tasks in full.”
The Lebanese military for years has relied on financial aid to stay functional, primarily from the United States and other Western countries. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is hoping that the war’s end and ceasefire deal will bring about more funding to increase the military’s capacity to deploy in the south, where Hezbollah’s armed units were notably present.
Though they were not active combatants, the Lebanese military said that dozens of its soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes on their premises or patrolling convoys in the south. The Israeli army acknowledged some of these attacks.