Pompeo says Islamic State still a menace in Syria

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the Islamic State remains a menace in Syria and Iraq and that the United States will continue to lead efforts to defeat it even after withdrawing troops from Syria.

“The fight is one that we will continue to wage alongside of you,” he said in opening remarks at a summit of countries dedicated to fighting the Islamic State. “The drawdown of American troops is essentially a tactical change. It is not a change in the mission. It does not change the structure, the design or authorities on which campaign has been based. It simply represents a new stage in an old fight.”

Pompeo is hosting diplomats from more than 70 countries at the State Department to discuss how to proceed against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq now that the group’s militants have been pushed out of all but a sliver of the self-proclaimed caliphate they ruled brutally.

“We all know why we’re here,” Pompeo said. “ISIS remains a menace, one that it’s our generation’s responsibility to stop.”

Calling this an era of “decentralized jihad,” Pompeo downplayed the impact of the U.S. withdrawal as he urged nations to contribute money to restabilizing territory liberated from the militant group. In Iraq alone, there is a $350 million shortfall of what’s needed to allow the return of the nation’s citizens.

“America will continue to lead in giving those who would destroy us no quarter,” he said.

The meeting brings together a coalition of allies, many of which are at odds with the United States, or each other, on several issues. Most of the European countries oppose the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which they consider essential to their national security. Turkey and Saudi Arabia disagree over an investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are all enforcing an economic blockade on Qatar.

The seating arrangement was largely in alphabetical order. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was seated two seats from Saudi Arabia’s Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs. The Saudi envoy was directly across the table from the Qatari representative. Any potentially awkward moments were seemingly averted by the lack of eye contact.

The coalition’s meeting comes at a pivotal moment in the fight against the Islamic State. It is the coalition’s first get-together since President Donald Trump announced he would withdraw all American troops from Syria, a decision that officials in his administration immediately tried to walk back and that the Senate rebuked. Despite the militant group’s massive territorial loss, the U.S. military worries that the Islamic State’s defeat is not final and that the group could rise again in a year or less.

It “remains a potent force of battle-hardened and well-disciplined fighters that could likely resurge in Syria absent continued counterterrorism pressure,” said a report from the Pentagon’s inspector general Monday.

And Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, warned of just such a resurgence of the Islamic State, also known by its acronym ISIS.

“The coalition’s hard-won battlefield gains can only be secured by maintaining a vigilant offensive against the now largely dispersed and disaggregated ISIS that retains leaders, fighters, facilitators, resources and the profane ideology that fuels their efforts,” he told a Senate committee on Tuesday.

The task ahead is to coordinate efforts to keep pressuring the group as it turns to more insurgent tactics, a senior State Department official said on condition of anonymity under rules for briefing reporters.

U.S. officials have asked all nations to repatriate fighters who have been captured and are now kept imprisoned in Syria by Kurdish and Arab forces. It is expected some may be released after the U.S. troops leave.

The United States also intends to focus much of Tuesday’s discussion on ways to push out Iranian militias active in Syria.

“In every discussion we have about the strategic situation in Syria, there is a thread of the destabilizing and provocative role that Iran plays in Syria,” said another State Department official. “It’s so prominent that no one can ignore it.”