But the Islamic State in Iraq is still capable of conducting a low-tech, low-cost, largely rural – and deadly – campaign, say U.S. and Iraqi officials for terrorism. While ISIS has not carried out any attacks on the scale it did a few years ago, the number of attacks has started to grow again.
The Pentagon is reluctant to keep more than the absolute minimum of troops in Iraq because they have been attacked by Iranian-backed militias. In an attack on an Iraqi base in March, three soldiers of the US-led military coalition there were killed, including two Americans, and 14 wounded.
In March, the Pentagon ordered military commanders to plan for an escalation of U.S. fighting in Iraq. But the top US commander in the country warned that such a campaign could be bloody and counterproductive and risked war with Iran.
Since then, the United States has consolidated its troops on fewer bases, a repositioning that General McKenzie acknowledged had diverted resources from fighting ISIS. Separately, the training mission for the past few months has been suspended due to concerns about the coronavirus.
General McKenzie praised the government of the new Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, for its initial efforts to counter Iranian-backed Shiite militias who periodically lobby rockets at U.S. troops and personnel, noting that U.S. officials are patient. must practice with the fit of the new government and begin.
“We are trying everything we can not to burn the environment in Iraq,” he said, referring to the assassination of one of Iran’s top generals, Major General Qassim Suleimani, in a U.S. drone strike at Baghdad International. Airport in January. That strike led to many Iraqi lawmakers demanding a full-scale withdrawal of US troops from the country.
In northeastern Syria, U.S. troops are working closely with Kurdish allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, to fight ISIS fighters. General McKenzie said the insurgents were limited to carrying out “local sporadic violence” east of the Euphrates, an area controlled by US and US-backed Kurdish troops.
