US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Wednesday against a resurgence of the Islamic State group in Syria, as he called for a de-escalation in fighting in the war-torn country.
Syria has seen its worst violence in years after Islamist-led rebels launched a lightning offensive to seize swathes of territory from President Bashar al-Assad’s control.
“Right now, I think what’s so critical is that we see de-escalation, we ensure that civilians are protected throughout Syria, and maybe most critically, that there’s actually a political process that moves forward,” Blinken said on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.
“We have enduring interests, enduring security interests in Syria, particularly the interest in making sure that ISIS doesn’t resurrect and doesn’t come back.”
US-led forces defeated the Islamic State group in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but jihadist fighters still operate in remote desert areas, although they no longer control territory.
The US military has around 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq as part of the international anti-IS coalition that was established in 2014 to help combat the jihadists.
“We also have in Syria many foreign terrorist fighters, as well as their families, who are in camps,” Blinken said.
“We’ve been working very hard to see them repatriated to their countries of origin, but there are many thousands who remain, and we certainly don’t want to see those foreign terrorist fighters re-emerge.”
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