New US Options to Fight Daesh

Local Editor

Under the title of finding additional ways to destroy terrorists, the Pentagon was to present the White House with possible new battle plans to defeat Daesh [Arabic Acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"].

This comes after US President Donald Trump demanded that.

A pillar of Trump's campaign was to quicken the fight against Daesh, which despite losing thousands of fighters still controls parts of northern Syria and Iraq, and he berated the Barack Obama administration for taking too long to do so.

Trump had claimed to have a secret plan to defeat Daesh, but never disclosed what this might be. He repeatedly pledged to "bomb the hell" out of the themn and even threatened to kill family members of suspected militants.

Shortly after taking office, the new president gave the Pentagon 30 days to come up with a comprehensive review of the fight against Daesh.

The initial version of that review is now complete, and US Military Secretary Jim Mattis will present the findings to Trump's top national security advisors later Monday.

Though broad in scope, the options outlined in the classified review are preliminary and need to be further refined, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said.

"It is about the rapid the defeat of 'ISIS'," Davis said.

He also mentioned: "We're going to continue to have a dialogue with our chain of command going forward and developing this plan."

The proposals will likely outline the possibility of sending more US troops to the Middle East and could see the Pentagon taking a more aggressive stance in other key areas.

"This is not about Syria and Iraq, it's about a trans-regional threat," General Joe Dunford, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Washington audience last week.

Dunford stressed the importance of renewed military action coming alongside diplomatic and political efforts.

"All of us who have participated in these conflicts over the last 15 years realize that anything we do on the ground has to be in the context of political objectives or it's not going to be successful," Dunford said.

The review includes input from across the government, including its spy agencies, State Department and Department of Homeland Security.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team