Pence declares IS 'defeated' despite Syria blast killing US troops

Vice-President Mike Pence claimed that IS 'caliphate has crumbled' and the militant network 'has been defeated' shortly after an attack in Syria killed American 'service members'.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

16 January, 2019

Pence made no reference to the earlier attack in Syria which killed US troops [AFP]

Vice-President Mike Pence announced on Wednesday the defeat of the Islamic State group and reiterated US plans to pull troops out of Syria, despite a deadly attack by the movement in Manbij killing a number of US service members.

"The caliphate has crumbled and ISIS has been defeated," Pence, using another name for IS, told a gathering in Washington of US ambassadors stationed around the world.

"We will protect the gains that our soldiers and our coalition partners have secured," he told the meeting at the State Department.

"We'll stay in the region and we'll stay in the fight to ensure that ISIS does not rear its ugly head again," he said.

Despite the pledge of support, Pence double-downed on President Donald Trump's controversial declaration in December for the withdrawal of all 2,000 American troops from Syria.

"Thanks to the leadership of this commander-in-chief and the courage and sacrifice of our coalition partners, we're now actually able to hand off the fight against ISIS in Syria to our coalition partners and we are bringing our troops home," he said, without referencing the attack earlier Wednesday.

The US-led coalition said American "service members" were among the dead in the suicide attack in the flashpoint city of Manbij, the first there against the international forces in 10 months.

The Islamic State group movement claimed the attack.

Agencies contributed to this report.