- Pretty full room today.
Good morning, welcome everybody.
Today we have Colonel John Dorrian,
Combined Joint Task Force
Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman,
back from his well-deserved mid-tour break,
and speaking to us from Baghdad.
Sir, great to see you again, can you hear us?
- I've got you loud and clear, Eric, how do you read?
- We got you loud and clear.
If the control room, maybe turn up the volume a little bit.
When we go to ask the questions,
we're gonna pass around the mic,
we've had a few audio difficulties before.
So my partner over here will pass you the mic.
Give Colonel Dorrian a little clearer view there.
Colonel Dorrian's gonna start with a short update
on counter-ISIS operations in Iraq and Syria
and then we'll turn to you for questions.
And Colonel Dorrian, take it away.
- Thanks, Eric, it's good to be back answering questions.
Good morning, we'll start in Syria
and we'll move on to Iraq.
The Syrian Democratic Forces and their Syrian Arab Coalition
continue advancing as they further isolate Raqqa city.
They continue to make progress in clearing ISIS fighters
from the territory in the vicinity of Tabqa,
having cleared territory east and north of Raqqa
where they are now nearing positions
to enable their assault to liberate the city.
As they've cleared, they've repelled a significant number
of ISIS attacks as the enemy struggles
to slow their advance.
In the last 24 hours,
they've cleared 11 square kilometers
east of Raqqa and toward Tabqa,
where the enemy remains completely isolated.
Our partnered forces have encountered tough resistance
from ISIS in the area, encountering VBIED,
direct and indirect fire attacks,
as well as the use of human shields
which the enemy continues to use to slow their advance.
As we reported earlier this week,
coalition and partnered Syrian opposition groups
repelled an ISIS attack targeting the At Tanf garrison
in southern Syria.
ISIS initiated the attack
with a VBIED and 20 to 30 fighters
with a ground assault and suicide vests.
Coalition and partnered forces engaged and defended
against the ISIS attack with direct fire
before destroying enemy assault vehicles
and the remaining fighters with coalition air strikes.
This is significant because the enemy has a track record
of attempting spoiler attacks away from the main effort
in an attempt to score propaganda points
which they hope will compensate
for their lack of battlefield success
against coalition and partnered forces.
As in past attempts, they were unsuccessful,
and lost the fighters and the resources
they brought to bear.
This result also reflects the readiness coalition
and partnered forces to defend themselves
even when working in isolated areas.
Moving on to Iraq,
the Iraqi security forces continue
making incremental progress on the west side of Mosul
as the enemy has intensified their exploitation of civilians
by moving them in larger numbers into harm's way.
Notably the coalition has continued
supporting the Iraqi security forces as they clear more
deeply into West Mosul's dense urban terrain
where nearly 500 square kilometers of territory
have been cleared since operations in West Mosul
commenced on February 19th.
The 16th Iraqi Army Division
continues securing east Mosul as a hold force,
the Iraqi federal police
and Iraqi Emergency Response Division
have continued their operations along the Tigris River.
Although their operations have been incremental,
due to enemy sniper fire and the use of human shields.
The CTS continued progress
in the dense urban terrain of the old city,
overcoming direct fire engagements from the enemy.
And to the west of the city center,
the Iraqi 36th Brigade
cleared territory north of Badush.
The Iraqi security forces retained control
of both main routes west from Mosul,
eliminating enemy freedom of movement.
This enemy in Mosul is not going anywhere.
With that, I'll be delighted to take your questions.
- Okay, thank you very much.
And first we'll go to Idrees Ali from Reuters.
- Colonel, just wanted to sort of clarify something.
I believe in February General Townsend
had said Mosul and Raqqa should be retaken in six months.
It's now April.
Is that timeline still possible?
- Well I'm not gonna get into the business
of predicting timelines.
We continue to make good progress
with our partnered forces in isolating the city.
The enemy, once they're pinned down there,
they're not gonna be able to go anywhere,
and we're gonna continue to hammer them with strikes
as our partners move in and retake the city.
So General Townsend, I know,
has been very clear that it's our intent to do the very best
we can to get this done on our watch,
none of that has changed,
we're doing this as quickly as we can.
And one of the reasons for that is because the enemy,
any area that they control,
there's tremendous human suffering there.
So we're gonna continue our operations at pace.
We'll do those operations as quickly as we can.
But I'm not gonna get into the business
of predicting an end date.
- Gonna jump to Ben Kesling from Wall Street Journal.
- Hey Colonel Dorrian, just a quick question
on the relationship with Russia right now.
What's going on with deconfliction?
What can you tell us about that relationship
with U.S. forces and the Russian counterparts?
Have tensions ratcheted up,
especially with some of the diplomatic talk
that's happening with Secretary of State Tillerson
and President Trump?
Or are things still proceeding on pace
with military to military discussions?
- Thanks, Ben.
We continue conducting our operations at pace.
We've continued our strikes in Syria
despite the tensions that were a result of the strikes
that were conducted against the Syrian regime.
This is something that we're going to continue.
The Secretary of Defense made clear
that he believes that we're operating
in a safe and effective manner.
We'll continue to do that.
We can't get into the business
of discussing the day to day operations
with regard to any discussions or lack thereof
with regard to the deconfliction line doing so.
From my conversations with the people
that are directly involved in that before is that
that was not a productive thing to do
and that's the reason that we are no longer
doing readouts of what those discussions are
and we will not get back into that business, so thank you.
- Okay, I understand that,
but can you just comment real quick
on how the relationship is between U.S. and Russia
as far as the deconfliction stuff goes?
I mean are there still conversations happening
and can you talk at all about at what level
those conversations are happening?
- Yeah I'm afraid I can't answer that for you.
That's exactly what we're just not gonna be able to discuss.
Again the Secretary of Defense is satisfied
that we're conducting our operations in a safe manner.
I know yesterday he told you that he felt that,
we were adequately deconflicted
and we'll continue our operations and accelerate them
any way that we can to get these areas liberated from Daesh.
- Start with Bob Burns here,
and then we'll go to Kasim Ileri after that.
- Colonel Dorrian, I think you said that strike operations
in Syria are continuing at pace.
Earlier this week, CENTCOM said that offensive operations
had slacked off somewhat in the aftermath
of the cruise missile strike
in order to do more defensive operations.
Can you explain whether things
have fully returned to the normal, so to speak,
or are you still doing fewer offensive strikes?
- Well in the last week, from the fourth to the 11th,
we've conducted 123 strikes
for the operations toward isolating
and ultimately liberating Raqqa.
So that's a significant number of strikes.
We have made adjustments to our operations
to account for the potential tensions
that resulted from the,
strikes that were conducted
because of the Syrian regime's chemical attacks.
But make no mistake,
we do plan on continuing our operations,
and we do continue to look for ways to accelerate them.
- Okay, and next we go to Kasim Ileri from Anadolu.
- Hi Colonel, welcome back.
Since the strike on Syria air base,
could you tell us whether the number of U.S. troops,
or the amount of the equipment on the ground,
in Syria have increased or not?
- We continue to remain,
within our,
force management level and we do continue
to have troops that come into and out of Syria,
as necessary, in order to conduct operations.
As far as the specific numbers that are there,
we're not gonna do real-time reporting on exact numbers.
So I really can't give you a tremendous amount
of fidelity on that.
What I can say is that
there's been no real substantive change,
in where we're headed,
the numbers of troops that we have
as a result of what's happened.
- And follow up on that question.
Could you tell us whether the deconfliction channel
is currently open with Russians and have you used it
during this week, like from one day to today?
Thank you.
- Yup, I'm sorry, I'm just not gonna be able
to get into the day to day reporting
of the status of deconfliction.
We're just not gonna do that.
- Okay, alright, thank you, Kasim.
And next we have Corey Dickstein from Stars and Stripes.
- Hey Colonel Dorrian.
I wanted to see,
are there still negotiations going on with any role
Turkey might play in the liberation of Raqqa?
- We continue to talk to Turkey nearly every day
and we continue to remain open for a possible role for them.
As far as the substance to those discussions,
that's something that's more of a diplomatic effort,
and a mil-to-mil effort, that's best left,
in a diplomatic and mil-to-mil discussion.
So as far as the substance of those discussions
and where they are on that,
I don't have anything new to report.
But Turkey has played a tremendous role
in rolling back ISIS territorial gains
and that's something that we welcome
and would love to see continue.
In the meantime we do continue to do our work
with our partnered force to isolate Raqqa
and that city is going to be liberated.
- One more, is the SDF at this point,
are they properly equipped to carry out that liberation?
Is there anything additional, equipment-wise, backing-wise,
that they might need to defeat ISIS in Raqqa?
- Well as you know the coalition
has brought additional firepower into Syria
in order to support the Syrian Democratic Forces
and the Syrian Arab Coalition in their advance.
That's comes in the form of Marine artillery, and also,
Apache gunships, which have been instrumental
in supporting their advance in areas like Tabqa,
and in and around the areas that surround Raqqa.
So we've brought those to bear.
As far as what additional other capabilities
might be brought in,
I think that's a conversation for another day.
- Okay, thank you, and next we go to David Martin, CBS.
- John, you mentioned the,
exploitation of civilians in West Mosul.
While you were away, Colonel Scrocca,
told us about a video
that, he said,
showed civilians being smuggled into a building
in West Mosul where they would then become,
casualties if an American or coalition strike
was conducted on that building.
But we haven't seen that video.
Do you know what happened to it?
And I have another question.
- Yup, I know that the video was sent
to U.S. Central Command headquarters for further review.
I believe that's probably where to follow up
with regard to the release timeline because my understanding
is preparations are being made,
or review is underway there,
as far as whether that'll be released
and at what time it will be released.
- Whether, on the question of whether strikes
have been scaled back in Syria,
I briefly glanced at the strike summary today
and it was a particularly small number
of strikes in Syria.
Is that because of weather,
deconfliction problems, or force protection?
- Yeah, at any given day,
the number of strikes will fluctuate, David,
and some of the, all,
the factors that you described could play a role.
So we've had some bad weather the last several days
and I think we're gonna have a few more days
of very tough weather,
but I would say any opportunity
that we have to conduct strikes,
or to accelerate them in order
to support our partners' advance,
we're gonna take that opportunity and do so.
So I wouldn't take any temporary small number,
just a snapshot in time,
as anything that changes that intent.
We're gonna get this done as quickly as we can.
We're gonna conduct our strikes to support our partners
because one of the things that's very important
to understand is that millions of people
have been able to return to their homes
because of the rollback
of ISIS territorial gains.
And a lot of the reason for that
is the coalition air strikes that have supported
our partners as they've taken that territory back.
There just wouldn't be anywhere near as the number of people
that have been able to return to their homes
without those strikes and I think
that's a very important point for people to understand.
- Okay, and I am at strike two with the name.
Sir, I've--
- [Jim] Jim Michaels.
- Jim, I'm sorry about that.
- Colonel, what is the principal ISIS tactic
that they're using in an effort
to slow Iraqi forces movement into West Mosul?
Is it IEDs, is it using human shields,
what is the key factor
that's sort of inhibiting the movement
into West Mosul at this point?
- Yeah thanks, Jim, I would say no single tactic.
They have a layered defense
and they've had two years to build it.
Unfortunately one of the ones that's most problematic
and difficult is their use of human shields.
They've intensified their efforts
to bring civilians into harm's way.
This is something that is a despicable and cowardly tactic.
But make no mistake they've had two years plus
to dig elaborate defenses.
We've seen them use commercial
off the shelf drone technology, we've seen them use snipers,
we've seen them use VBIEDs,
and now as we move into this very dense urban terrain
on the west side of Mosul,
where the roads,
may not even really be qualified
as what most reasonable people would call a road,
they're so narrow,
that it channelizes the advance
for the Iraqi security forces.
That combination of things, explosives, booby traps,
snipers, the use of civilian shields,
just makes it very slow and difficult going.
The Iraqi security forces continue their advance
but it's very very difficult
and it's just gonna remain so for awhile.
We're gonna keep working through that.
With each passing day,
the number of ISIS fighters in Mosul goes down,
the amount of resources they have available
to continue their mayhem goes down,
and ultimately they're not going anywhere
and they are gonna be defeated.
- Jim, sorry about that, that was strike two.
We will not get strike three.
Next we move over to Courtney Kube from NBC.
- Good evening, Colonel Dorrian.
One follow up from one of your earlier answers.
You said that when you were referencing the number
of strikes near Raqqa this week,
that there were adjustments to operations to account
for tensions following the strikes last Thursday.
What kind of, can you give us an example
of how those tensions may be manifesting?
What are you seeing that shows tension?
- Well you've seen the public statements.
I don't have to regurgitate those for you,
but what I would say is when you see
those types of public statements,
then you know that you're doing something
that changes the dynamic.
It's just appropriate to make sure
that you're taking appropriate measures to account for that.
We don't want to be reckless
and we don't want to have some type of incident
that would cause a miscalculation
or some type of unintended incident.
So, I probably,
cannot get deeply into exactly what the adjustments are
in the interest of force protection
and maintaining operational security,
but I would say that it is certainly appropriate to say
we made some adjustments to what our forces in Syria
were doing to account for the fact
that the strikes against the Syrian regime
chemical capability did increase tensions there.
It was just appropriate to do that but I can assure you
that the intent is to get back as quickly as possible
to our normal operations in as fast a pace
as we can manage
to defeat ISIS and help our partners
so that they can liberate the remaining territory
that Daesh control.
- And then one more.
I know you don't wanna talk about
deconfliction specifically,
but we've heard for months now
that there are close calls,
or however you want to call them,
with Russian aircraft over Syria, it's not that uncommon.
Have you seen any uptick in that over the last week or so?
Are you still seeing any kind of close calls
between U.S. and Russian aircraft,
whether it's intentional or not?
- No, I've not,
but I would say that all the things that we observed
before continue to exist.
Both sides do observe the other's operations
and assess what's happening and that'll continue.
That's not anything new,
it's just something that we're all cognizant of,
and that'll continue.
- Next we move to Barbara Starr, CNN, in the back corner.
- Colonel Dorrian, to follow up on David
and Courtney and several other people,
I'd like to ask you to try to be as precise as you can.
You just said that you hope to get back to normal operations
as quickly as you can in Syria.
So is the downturn, specifically,
in airstrikes that continues right now
due to force protection, deconfliction, plus weather,
because you've just told us
that you're not at normal operations?
And then I have a follow up.
- Yup, I think I've probably been
about as specific as I can, Barbara.
We have experienced some very tough weather,
we have made some adjustments based on force protection
and the increased tensions.
All those things have to be taken to account,
but make no mistake,
we do plan on accelerating any time that we're able.
And again, as I've said many times,
any ISIS resources in Syria or Iraq,
regardless of where they are,
are subject to attack by coalition air, artillery,
whatever resources that we can bring to bear
to bring about their destruction.
So fighters, resources,
anything that the enemy is using
to resist the advance of our partnered forces,
all those things are subject to attack,
and we'll take every opportunity that we can
to safely and with precision destroy those capabilities.
- Two follow ups.
You had said on deconfliction at the beginning,
your words, it was not productive to talk about it.
Can you please explain what is not productive?
Why is it not productive, in your words, to talk about it?
And you also described Mosul fighting
right now as incremental,
so I take that to mean it's not going as planned.
Can you tell us a little bit more about what you meant
about incremental as well as not productive
to discuss deconfliction?
- Yup, the military-to-military discussions
between us and Russia on deconfliction,
previously having day-to-day discourse
about what those discussions are,
is a departure from their purpose.
Their purpose was always to conduct those discussions,
to protect safety of flight,
not as some type of effort to do public statements
or that sort of thing.
And so these are discussions that we just want
to keep focused on what they are intended to do,
safety of flight.
So we're not gonna get
into the day-to-day discussions anymore,
and that's just how we'll have to do it from here on out.
With regard to incremental in Mosul,
that word is an accurate description of what's happening.
The Iraqi security forces do continue to advance.
So we knew that it was going to be very difficult.
We've been saying for months that the enemy
has had an opportunity to dig elaborate defenses,
that it was going to be very hard.
We've said for many months that as we got into the old part
of the city, the dense urban terrain there,
that it would be extraordinarily difficult.
And what we're seeing is exactly what we expected to see.
So, I'm just trying to give you
an accurate description of what's happening.
I don't want to say that, hey,
they continue to advance at pace,
when in reality it's very very slow and very very hard,
and it's gut-busting difficult fighting
between our forces and theirs.
But our forces and the Iraqi security forces
continue to make progress.
It's very slow, it's very tough.
One of the reasons for that is because we want to do it
in a manner that protects civilian life,
Prime Minister Abadi has been very clear on that,
and it's been an enduring principle
of the campaign throughout.
So, if it has to be done slow,
that's how it's going to be done, and,
but we're gonna continue.
- [Barbara] I take it that you've just said
you do continue to have--
- [John] Going anywhere,
and they are gonna be destroyed in Mosul.
- (mumbles) however, you don't want to talk about it,
but you do continue to have, I think you just said,
day-to-day discussions with the Russians.
- Nope, I didn't say that,
I told you we're not gonna discuss it.
- Go to Cami McCormick, CBS Radio News, in the corner.
- Colonel Dorrian, explain to us please why it's detrimental
to talk about the deconfliction talks?
You've been talking about them up until now.
You've called them useful, you've called them effective,
you've said that they've saved pilots' lives.
That would lead a lot of people,
the fact that you're not speaking about it now,
would lead a lot of people to believe
they're not going on now.
Why can't you just say are the deconfliction talks going on
with the Russians through this channel currently
or are they not?
- Yeah, I'm not gonna get into that.
We're not gonna discuss it, it's as simple as that.
It wasn't productive for us to continue doing it,
and so we're not doing it anymore.
- Tom Bowman, NPR.
- Colonel, could you talk about what's been going on
in Idlib since the chemical attack?
Presumably, the Russians and the Syrians
are forging ahead to take over that area.
How many airstrikes have you seen from either side?
Ground movements?
Just talk about what you've seen since the chemical attack.
- Tom, I'm afraid I really can't get into that with you
because it doesn't really have a direct,
relationship to the fight against ISIS.
We continue to focus our energy here
at Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve
on supporting our partners who are isolating Raqqa.
So, what's happening in Idlib,
I think would probably be best directed
to U.S. Central Command.
I hope you understand, it's just not really our portfolio.
- Follow up on Corey's question about support
for the Syrian Kurds and Arabs.
I've been hearing that as early as next week,
the Pentagon will go to Congress
and request what's called 1209 funds
to provide small arms, also heavy machine guns,
to that force.
Can you talk a little bit about the way ahead with that?
- Yeah, I don't have any update for you on that.
What I can say is right now our efforts have been directed
toward providing resources, equipment,
and light weapons to the Syrian Arab Coalition.
That is the current state of play.
As far as any new developments on that,
that's a discussion probably for another day.
And if there's anything new on that I think
it'd probably be announced from OSD public affairs.
- When on Mosul, it sounds like what they're doing now
is sort of encircling Mosul, is that correct?
- Mosul has been encircled for quite some time.
What's happening now is that as the CTS
and the Iraqi federal police and emergency response division
press more deeply into the very dense urban terrain
along the Euphrates River and in the old part of the city.
The 9th Iraqi Army Division continues clearing territory
to the north and to the west of the center of the city.
And then reducing the size of the cordon, where,
and this is the territory that the enemy still retains
some degree of freedom of movement.
But the freedom of movement
is only within that shrinking cordon.
They're not going anywhere,
they're not going to be able to leave to the west.
They are cut off.
So the force that's in,
the west side of Mosul, the fighters that are there,
they have really two choices,
they can surrender to the Iraqi security forces,
or they're going to be killed.
- Okay, and next we move to Paul Shinkman, U.S. News.
- Thanks for doing this, colonel.
Just to follow up on the activities of the Syrian air force.
By some assessments, the strike last week wiped out
as much as a fifth of their operational aircraft.
Have you seen a proportional reduction
in their conducting air strikes?
Have you seen any noticeable difference
in their air activity?
Perhaps are you seeing more Russian involvement
to make up for that shortcoming?
- Yup, Paul, I understand your question.
I'm afraid it's really not within our portfolio,
this is something that's probably best directed
to U.S. Central Command.
We continue to focus on ISIS,
we've not really detected any discernible change
in the impact of what we intend to do.
We've made some adjustments in the interest of making sure
that we account for any increased tensions,
but as far as impact of what those strikes are,
it's just not directly related to what we are doing.
- Separately we'd seen some reports in recent weeks
of ISIS fighters moving south from Raqqa and Mosul
into sort of southeast Syria and into west Iraq.
Is that a trend that you're still noticing
and do you see any significant sort of massing,
or not massing, but sort of rallying of forces there?
- Yeah, any time that the enemy remains under pressure
in one area, they're going to try to look for places to go.
This is one of the reasons why we have a force
in southern Syria, at the At Tanf garrison,
they continue to work with partnered forces
to further reduce enemy freedom of movement
in the open desert, in the areas that are more remote,
south of Raqqa.
So this is something that we continue to build upon.
The enemy thought probably that they had a window
of opportunity or the potential to conduct a strike
where we had forces that were operating
in a fairly remote location.
They were wrong about their ability
to conduct a successful attack.
They were routed.
Once they made their initial attack,
things turned south for them very quickly.
And this is an example,
working with those partnered forces
in some of these remote areas.
We're not just working in these major areas
like Raqqa and Mosul.
We continue to work with our partnered forces
in Syria and in Iraq to eliminate these other areas
where ISIS might wish to go.
We want to make sure that that's a wish.
- Okay, and next to Jamie Crawford, Washington Examiner.
- [Jamie] No, Jamie McIntyre.
- Jamie McIntyre, I'm sorry.
- [Jamie] There's too many Jamies in this place.
- Right?
(reporters chatter and chuckle)
- Colonel, I understand that you're not
the releasing authority anymore for this video
that purportedly shows ISIS herding people into buildings
in Mosul and even executing someone on the spot.
But do you think it undercuts the U.S. credibility
when you make that kind of allegation
about really spectacular atrocity of war crime,
claim that you have the video to back it up,
say that you're going to release it shortly,
and then it never gets released?
Because it doesn't appear
we're gonna see that video any time soon.
- Yeah, the decision to release or not release the video
now resides at CENTCOM.
So, I'll refer you to them with regard to that.
What I can tell you is that the atrocities of ISIS
are well documented not just by us,
but by witnesses on the ground, human rights groups,
their own releases of videos.
They've hung people as an example
to others in the western side of Mosul
and they leave them hanging there
as an example, of,
what will happen to people who try to escape the city.
That's well documented by a lot more
than just the coalition.
So, if you have any doubts about what the enemy
is all about, you don't just have to ask us.
You can look at their own videos,
you can talk to human rights groups.
You can talk,
several media who are operating in western Mosul,
have talked to plenty of witnesses on the ground.
There is ample evidence that all these things are happening
whether or not that video gets released or not.
- Just a quick follow up.
Has there been any change in the assessment
that ISIS is using this tactic of forcing groups of people
into locations where they will potentially
become mass casualties and thereby,
stoke outrage against the coalition.
Is that, has there been any change to the assessment
that that's what occurred in this incident in Mosul
where so many civilians were killed
and has there been any change in their tactic?
Are they still using that tactic?
- The enemy does continue to use that tactic.
That's among the many things that you see,
from multiple witnesses,
people that have been victims of that.
With regard to the specifics of the March 17th strike,
that's still under an investigation,
a 15-6 investigation conducted by an Air Force officer here.
So, I don't want to get ahead of that investigation
with regard to that specific incident.
But there is a growing body of evidence
that those types of things are happening.
Human rights groups have done a lot of interviews.
We have seen reportage of it from media
who are on the ground that have discussed it
with some of the victims of that.
So, yes, the enemy does continue to do that.
It's a despicable tactic and unfortunate and heartbreaking,
but it is something that we're seeing.
- Thank you.
Poor Jamie Crawford gets more of my emails
for Jamie McIntyre, I just can't get 'em straight, right?
Next, we move to Ryan Browne, CNN.
- Hello Colonel, thank you for doing this.
I just wanted to follow up
on Paul's question really quickly.
I know you don't want to speak necessarily
to the regime's air operations,
but the Russian Ministry of Defense today said
that the cruise missile strikes
had a direct effect on their campaign against ISIS.
I know a few months ago,
I think you said that you started to see an uptick
in both the regime and Russia's airstrikes against ISIS
due to fighting around Palmyra and Deir ez-Zor.
Have you seen any impact on their efforts
in recent days to fight ISIS?
Are you seeing any activity by the Russians
or the regime in Damascus to fight ISIS?
- Yeah, as far as what the impact is against ISIS,
I think that's something that we'll have to observe and see.
What I would say is the strike was conducted
because of the chemical weapons
used against the people of Syria.
And, as a result,
they've had their capabilities reduced.
So if they would like to continue
to ramp-up their campaign against ISIS,
it would be best and in their interest
to not use chemical weapons,
so that some of their capabilities will remain.
- And next goes to Lucas Tomlinson with Fox.
- [Lucas] Colonel, since the cruise missile strike,
have the Russian or Syrian regime forces
made any threatening moves toward U.S. troops
on the ground in Syria?
- No.
- [Lucas] Iranian forces or Iranian proxy forces?
- No.
- Can the American people expect any more U.S. troops
going to Iraq or Syria anytime soon?
- Well, I think that's a conversation for another day.
As you know, the president has ordered a review
of the campaign to determine what can be done
to accelerate the campaign against ISIS.
I understand that a shell of a plan is coming together,
but as far as what might happen in the future,
that is a discussion for another day.
It's not something that we would speculate on from here.
- Okay, and even though we converse every day,
I've forgotten your name, ma'am, I'm sorry, okay.
- Just a follow-up to your answer
to Jamie McIntyre's question.
You mentioned the airstrike on West Mosul
on March 17th and the investigation into that.
When can we expect a report?
Like a final report.
- Mm-hmm.
Well, as you might imagine with an incident
of the high visibility nature
and the possibility of very difficult outcome there,
there are going to be levels of review
for the investigation result.
So, I don't want to get into an exact timeline
for when that'll be done and when it'll be released.
What I would say is I spoke with the investigating officer
today and he continues to gather information,
he continues to speak with witnesses.
I know that there's been some lab work conducted to try
and look at some samples of various substances
that were found around the sites.
There have been engineers and experts brought in.
There have been a lot of witnesses interviewed,
including media, who were present, or had,
access to people in the scene,
in the time since the strike was conducted.
So we continue to gather information and the intent
is to get as comprehensive a picture
as we possibly can about what's happened.
And then, to be as transparent as we can
with regard to exactly what happened and what steps
are needed,
in the follow-up from what's happened.
- Just a quick follow-up.
I mean, you mentioned transparency and that's something
that Lieutenant General Townsend mentioned as well.
I mean, are you encouraging organizations like Amnesty
to conduct their own investigations, or,
perhaps get involved in or supply material
to this investigation?
Can you talk a bit about what you mean by transparency?
- Well we're gonna release the results of our investigation.
So,
there are areas where there may be some classification
of specific capabilities or that sort of thing,
but we're gonna release as much information as we can
and give people a good picture of what's transpired.
As far as the various groups
that also review what's happened,
I know that General Isler has spoken with several of them,
and he will continue to gather information
from whatever sources he can
to get as clear a picture as we can.
- Okay, and a second question from Kasim Ileri, Anadolu.
- Colonel, your troops were in close proximity
with the Russians and regime forces in Manbij.
And is this proximity still being kept
or does the U.S. forces stay,
do the U.S. forces still see the Russians around Manbij?
Or have you moved back then in a distant place to,
as a measure of an adjustment
to the force protection measure?
Thank you.
- No, our forces continue their work in that area.
And nothing has really changed with regard to that.
- I'm gonna hand the mic back,
we're gonna go to Luis Martinez, ABC.
I think our sound quality has gotten a little bit better,
but let's be safe here.
- Hey, John, one quick question
about the deconfliction line.
Are there policy discussions underway with Russia,
between the Russian government and the U.S. government,
as to the status of the deconfliction line?
- Luis, that's a discussion that's probably best had
at OSD level, as far as a policy discussion.
I'm not aware of anything, but if there is anything on that,
I think they'll have it for you.
- And just to follow onto,
I think Kasim's questions about Manbij,
has the U.S. posture there changed in any way?
- No.
- Okay, any more questions?
All right well that wraps up today's brief.
Thank you very much, everybody, for coming.
Thank you, Colonel Dorrian, glad to have you back again.
- Very good, thanks very much.
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