News / Syria / Military

Pentagon declares ‘conditions-based’ presence in Syria

Tuesday, 05 December 2017 9:35 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 05 December 2017 10:59 PM ]

A US military convoy drives on a highway in northern Syria on September 29, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The US military forces are poised to stay in war-ravaged Syria for “as long as we need to,” says a Pentagon official.

"We are going to maintain our commitment on the ground as long as we need to, to support our partners and prevent the return of terrorist groups," Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told AFP on Tuesday.

The Department of Defense spokesman on Iraq and Syria also repeated Washington’s stance that the US and its allies are fighting the Daesh Takfiri group there.

Pahon (pictured above) further announced that there would be no timeline to determine if and when they may leave as their presence is "conditions-based."

"To ensure an enduring defeat of ISIS, the coalition must ensure it cannot regenerate, reclaim lost ground, or plot external attacks," he said. "This is essential to the protection of our homeland as well as to defend our allies and partners.... The United States will sustain a conditions-based military presence in Syria to combat the threat of a terrorist-led insurgency, prevent the resurgence of ISIS, and to stabilize liberated areas."

PressTV-Anti-war groups protest US strikes on Syria

Protesters have taken to the streets in American cities to denounce US missile strikes on Syria.

The US-led coalition of 68 nations has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. Such air raids began in Iraq in August of the same year.

Read More: