US senators push Pentagon on Syria strategy after withdrawal uproar, Gen. Soleimani's assassination

A bipartisan pair of senators is pressing the Pentagon for “clarity” on the US military mission in Syria.

In a letter to the top officials at the Pentagon, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) cited both the recent spike in US-Iran tensions and last year’s firestorm over President Trump’s order to withdraw from Syria when seeking answers to a dozen questions on the US strategy in Syria.

“We would appreciate further clarity about the mission of US troops currently deployed to Syria,” the senators wrote to Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley in a letter obtained by The Hill ahead of its release. “Until now, the administration has not articulated a coherent and consistent strategy to Congress.”

In October, Trump ordered US forces in northeast Syria to withdraw ahead of a Turkish offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces, who had been instrumental in the US fight against ISIS.

Later, Trump said he would withdraw all US forces from Syria, save for a couple hundred at a garrison in southern Syria.

The orders sparked a fierce bipartisan backlash, as lawmakers fumed about abandoning Kurdish allies and warned of leaving a vacuum in which ISIS could reemerge.

Amid the opposition, Trump backtracked on a full withdrawal and left about 800 US troops in Syria. But Trump sparked a new round of confusion when he said those troops were staying to “secure the oil,” leading to questions about whether the United States had changed its objective in Syria from fighting ISIS.

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Meanwhile, the United States and Iran were on the brink of war earlier this month after a US drone strike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Following the strike, which took place on Iraqi soil, US operations against ISIS in Iraq have been paused.

Iranian and Iranian-backed forces operate in Syria to bolster Syrian President Bashar Assad, and US officials have argued the US military presence in Syria helps curb Iranian influence.

In their letter, dated Thursday, Cortez Masto and Romney asked for unclassified answers to several questions “given the confusion over the mission of US troops in Syria, particularly amid heightened regional tensions and strain on counter-ISIS operations, as well as the lack of clarity over how the mission connects to the administration’s articulated strategic aims.”

The pair asked what the “primary” US mission in northern Syria is, what the mission is at the al Tanf garrison in southern Syria and whether US troops in Syria have any “secondary” missions.

The senators also asked whether there are enough forces on the ground to both protect oil fields and fight ISIS, and what the rules of engagement are for the troops at the oil fields when facing forces associated with the Syrian government, Russia or Iran.

They further asked whether threats to US troops in Syria have changed since the Soleimani strike, what steps are being taken to protect troops in Syria from Iranian retaliation and whether anti-ISIS operations have paused as they have in Iraq.

Alluding to Iraqi calls for a US troop withdrawal following the Soleimani strike, Cortez Masto and Romney also asked about the viability of the US mission in Syria if troops leave Iraq.

The senators asked Milley and Esper to respond at their “earliest opportunity” but by Feb. 13 at the latest.

(Source: The Hill)

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