“This is an ideological struggle to defeat an idea – this horrific, perverse idea – that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Daesh are trying to spread around the world,” said Brett McGurk on Sunday, speaking in Jordan after meetings with Jordanian leaders and officials.
He detailed progress fighting ISIS, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, in its “core” of Iraq and Syria.
He confirmed that the US is supporting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who announced the commencement of the Wrath of Euphrates offensive to liberate Raqqa Sunday morning.
McGurk said that US special forces are on the ground in Syria and the coalition is carrying out airstrikes in support of the SDF in what he described as the “isolation phase” of the offensive.
He stressed that the force liberating Raqqa will be primarily made up of local Arab fighters. And added that US diplomats are constantly working to ensure the interests of their allies, both Kurdish and Turkish, are aligned and that the focus remains on fighting the common enemy, ISIS.
US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter issued a statement welcoming the SDF's announcement of the Raqqa operation.
"The effort to isolate, and ultimately liberate, Raqqa marks the next step in our coalition campaign plan," the statement reads. "As in Mosul, the fight will not be easy and there is hard work ahead, but it is necessary to end the fiction of ISIL's caliphate and disrupt the group's ability to carry out terror attacks against the United States, our allies and our partners."
He pledged continued support from the international coalition.
