US to continue Syria air war for now\, future unclear

US to continue Syria air war for now, future unclear

AFP  |  Washington 

The military will continue its air campaign in at least in the short term, the said Thursday, after declared victory over the Islamic State group.

He did not address the air campaign, in which the and partner nations including and Britain have spent years pounding IS targets across the country.

said the US would continue its air war while American soldiers were in - but she would not say if the campaign would continue afterward.

"As long are there are troops on the ground, the US will conduct air strikes in support of our forces," Rebarich told AFP.

"As for anything post-US troops on the ground, we will not speculate on future operations." A US defense told AFP that "there's not a lot of clarity on the future situation." "What we do in the air campaign will depend on the situation on the ground, and what partners and allies who are continuing the fight against do," the said.

and Britain have already indicated they will continue counter-IS operations.

The air war has been the keystone of US operations in Syria, with warplanes and drones hammering IS targets since 2014.

According to the most recent strike summary, published on Wednesday, the US-led coalition conducted 208 air and artillery strikes in Syria last week.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, December 20 2018. 22:05 IST