Butler didn’t say whether or not Milley met with commanders of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces which have been the primary ally of U.S. forces in Syria within the struggle towards IS.

Milley’s go to got here a day after the U.S. Central Command mentioned American troops and their allies carried greater than a dozen joint operations in northeast Syria in February throughout which 5 IS operatives have been killed and 11 detained.

“Whereas there, he obtained updates on the counter-ISIS mission, inspected power safety measures and assessed repatriation efforts for the Al Hol refugee camp,” Butler mentioned referring to a camp housing tens of 1000’s of largely IS-linked ladies and youngsters.

At al-Hol, tens of 1000’s of Syrians and Iraqis are crowded into tents within the fenced-in camp. Practically 20,000 of them are youngsters; many of the relaxation are ladies, wives and widows of IS fighters.

In a separate, closely guarded part of the camp generally known as the annex are a further 10,000 individuals: 2,000 ladies from 57 different international locations — they’re thought-about essentially the most die-hard IS supporters — together with about 8,000 of their youngsters.

Over the previous few months a number of international locations, together with France, Spain and Iraq, repatriated scores of ladies and youngsters from al-Hol.

Kurdish authorities at the moment function greater than two dozen detention services scattered throughout northeastern Syria, holding about 10,000 IS fighters. Among the many detainees are some 2,000 foreigners whose dwelling international locations have refused to repatriate them, together with about 800 Europeans.

There are at the moment about 900 U.S. forces on the bottom in northeast Syria, in keeping with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Protection Dana Stroul.

Regardless of their defeat in March 2019 throughout which IS misplaced the final sliver of land it as soon as managed, the extremists sleeper cells nonetheless perform lethal assaults in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

In February, IS sleeper cells attacked employees amassing truffles close to the central city of Sukhna, killing not less than 53 individuals, largely employees but in addition some Syrian authorities safety forces. A number of related assaults have occurred since.

Baldor reported from Washington.