Gen. Dempsey: ISIL militants savvier, more evasive
Iran Press TV
Mon Oct 13, 2014 5:24PM GMT
Two months after the United States began bombing ISIL positions, the top US military leader says the terrorist group has become tactically savvier in its fight.
"They're becoming more savvy with the use of electronic devices," said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey Sunday on ABC News. "They don't fly flags and move around in large convoys. They don't establish headquarters that are visible or identifiable."
"An enemy adapts and they'll be harder to target," Dempsey said, noting that it has become more difficult for the US-led coalition to identify and target the militants. "They know how to maneuver and how to use populations and concealment."
Asked if ground troops would be necessary in the fight against ISIL, Dempsey said maybe in the future.
"Yeah, there will be circumstances when the answer to that question will likely be yes," he said. "But I haven't encountered one right now."
The US and several of its Arab allies -- Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, -- have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL militants inside Syria since Sept, 22 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.
The air campaign in Syria is an extension of US airstrikes in Iraq launched since August 8.
Dempsey said Iraq was the primary focus. "The campaign against ISIL, it's been Iraq first… because we have a credible partner in the government of Iraq, and we have a credible partner in the security forces." "We don't have those partners in Syria," he added.
National Security Adviser Susan Rice also supported President Barack Obama's line of policy and rejected any plans to deploy ground troops to the region.
'We are not going to be in a ground war again in Iraq,' Rice said Sunday on NBC. 'It's not what is required by the circumstances that we face and even if one were to take that step, which the president has made clear we are not going to do, it wouldn't be sustainable.'
AN/HRJ
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