WASHINGTON/MOSCOW - The United States wants to bolster a coalition fighting Islamic State in northeastern Syria, a senior State Department official said on Monday, after the leader of the jihadi movement, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a weekend operation.
World leaders welcomed his death, but they and security experts warned that the group, which carried out atrocities against religious minorities and horrified most Muslims, remained a security threat in Syria and beyond.
The official said that President Donald Trump, by announcing the withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria on Oct. 6, did not suggest that Washington was abandoning the fight against Islamic State.
“There was never an idea that we would abandon the mission of going after ISIS. ... This is a major effort that is continuing,” the official told reporters.
Foreign ministers will meet in Washington on Nov. 14 to discuss the mission.
“The United States is determined to prevent a resurgence of ISIS in Syria and Iraq and continues to work with the Global Coalition to destroy ISIS remnants and thwart its global ambitions,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement. (Reuters)