THE ISLAMIC STATE will have be defeated eventually, America’s top general has conceded.
Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference today that the jihadi militants who have captured parts of Syria and Iraq “can be contained, not in perpetuity”.
The US has thus far limited their involvement to airstrikes, but Dempsey said today that that strategy may not be viable in the long term.
“They can be contained, not in perpetuity,” Dempsey said. “This is an organization that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated.
“To your question, can they be defeated without addressing that part of their organization which resides in Syria? The answer is no,” he said.
“That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a nonexistent border.
“And that will come when we have a coalition in the region that takes on the task of defeating ISIS over time,” Dempsey added.
“ISIS will only truly be defeated when it’s rejected by the 20 million disenfranchised Sunni that happen to reside between Damascus and Baghdad.”
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said that the US is “looking at all options” and said that airstrikes in Syria may still be an option.
The Pentagon yesterday said US warplanes had launched six airstrikes overnight to help solidify Iraqi and Kurdish forces’ efforts to retake and maintain control of the Mosul Dam.
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