Good morning, everybody just want to make sure [Jadey] first of all that you can hear us, and we can hear you I?
[gots] [a] loud and clear Jeff, [thanks]
So ladies [omen] today is the final time you will see colonel John Dorian on the screen?
he is going to be redeploying soon and coming home, so
Jd. Thank you for doing this on your your last brief before you come home
And we'll turn it over to you for some opening comments
Very good. Good morning all
The syrian Democratic forces in the syrian Arab coalition have successfully liberated a vast majority [of] Thapa
They continue to clear isis remnants from the final two neighborhoods of the city to include
Completely cutting off the top Kadam from the rest of the city
Isolating the remaining fighters there. This is key infrastructure the syrian people rely on for electric power
Tadka is an extremely dangerous battle zone as they [advanced]
Sdf forces encountered
Isis Snipers who are using apartment buildings hospitals and mosques in the dense Urban terrain to mask their positions our?
Partners continue finding and clearing improvised explosive devices in liberated territory as we've seen before
isis fighters in place these movie traps in any area they control
Unfortunately after they are defeated
These become explosive remnants of war that hurt a lot of people and delay residents from resuming their normal lives
Once the enemy is defeated removal of these explosives becomes a high priority
Even as isis is completely isolated and ultimately eliminated from top gun
their tactics continue to create incalculable
Human suffering about [Thirty] [thousand] [taka] residents have been displaced from their homes since the battle started in late
Protecting the safety and well-being of syrian civilians who remain in the city remains an iMportant priority for our partner force?
after Tadka is completely liberated the syrian democratic forces in syrian Arab coalition and
coalition Forces will continue
Operations to isolate and Seize Raqqa in Raqqa this week coalition strikes. Have destroyed a number of isis boats and barges
including on
Including 13 on Monday alone as well as heavy construction equipment. That isis is using
To build berms and barriers to try and complicate operations for our partner forces they liberate the city
As always when we see these enemy gatherings and using these kinds of resources to counter our partners
Those resources will be removed from the picture as expeditiously as possible through coalition strikes
We have also observed isis sabotaging infrastructure by blocking river flow to temporary
to create temporary Earthen Dams
Creating flooding intended to slow our partners advance in the countryside around raqqa to both the east and the West
The coalition is assisted by striking some of these and the heavy equipment that the enemy is used to build these earthen Dams
restoring normal water flow in eliminating the obstacle
moving to Iraq
The Iraqi Security Forces have continued advancing in west mosul after the ninth Iraqi armored division [an] Iraqi Federal police
Started a new axis of Advance in
Northwest mosul last week we've also seen the Iraqi counterterrorism
service accelerate their advances into the industrial section of the west mosul as
The isf [advanced] they continued encountering tough resistance from enemy snipers
enemy vehicle Borne Improvised explosive devices and
Human Shields
We hear reports about these enemy tactics nearly every day from Iraqis who are fleeing the fighting?
the
Multi-axis advance of the isf have presented the enemy with more
dilemmas than they can react to and this is manifesting itself in liberated Neighborhoods and
Relieved [Mosley's] who are quite satisfied to no longer be under the control of a barbaric terrorist group?
This week alone the isf have liberated more than 30 square kilometers of terrain and the west side of [mosul]
It's very difficult to predict exactly how long the liberation of mosul is going to take but we are seeing the enemy's defenses
Degraded with each passing day
And with that I will be delighted
[to] answer your questions
Michael Gordon from the New York Times
They do two questions
Have you started the process of arming the syrian Kurds and providing additional weapons?
to the syrian arabs and will be
The Syrian Arab coalition and the Kurdish elements be receiving
The same the same weapons, and I have a follow-up question
Michael some of the some of the equipment and the resources that are going to be provided
Are already in theater and some of those may have begun being dispersed
you know
very very quickly
But really the decision that was made yesterday is
authorities, so this will be an ongoing effort and what we can expect to see is that this equipment and
The resources that are going to be made available
to the entire sdf
[will] be metered out
specifically
aligned with various tasks that they are trying to accomplish to isolate and then go into raqqa, so
some of the
material that are
Have been slated to provide these resources to our partner force are there already?
And will be distributed soup
And some will be metered out
as it as it's
Needed I'm with regard [to] the Kurdish elements and the syrian Arab coalition elements
We expect those to be provided the same resources that we have been providing all along
my follow-up question
please is
the Russians have announced
de-escalation zones for De-escalation zones in Syria [and] made various assertion that
The us and the coalition should not fly over these Zones
[are] you?
Continuing to fly over these areas will you water this Russian admonition, or will you ignore it and just go
Wherever you think you need to be in syrian airspace
Yeah, Michael we continue to use our deconfliction channel to communicate with Russia
What our intent is?
I can tell you that the areas [that] are
Slated to be a part of these Zones are
[not] really affiliated very closely with areas where we are historically striking isis, so to some degree
that it's not really [a]
coalition issue to some extent so
You know we'll continue D conflicting and taking the actions that we need to
In order to strike isis anywhere on the battlefield where they're fighters and their resources can be found
But this has not [been] something that has been a significant issue Thus far
We are next to [Laurie] Milroy from Kurdistan 24 if I could follow up on Michael's last question
I have another one that do you accept in?
Principle that the Russians can just tell you you can't fly here, and you can't fly there is that acceptable in principle?
yeah, what what you're talking about is more of a in overall diplomatic discussion and we are really focused on the
Operational fight what we have done is we continue to deconflict our operations with the russians and we've not found
that with clear communication going both ways
That we've had really serious problems. It's a really important thing that we maintain doing that
Because this is what's enabled safe operations with each
Entity that is fighting isis to continue conducting their operations, but in a manner that
prevents
miscalculation and and any type of
Security Mishap, and thank you
and my other question
Could you give us some [idea] of the kind of new kinds of weapons that you will be providing to the Sdf under the Authority?
That was announced yesterday
So what we're talking about here is small arms
ammunition and the types of weapons [that] can be used
to address the types of threats that we've seen
the
Isis enemy use so vehicle-Borne improvised explosive devices and that sort of thing [so] heavy machine guns
that types of capability
those mortars
Yeah, they mortars will be included. Yes
Next to Rajiv from the Daily Sabah
[colma] thanks for doing this
Do you think these weapons or arms or ammunition that will be provided to do?
Kurdish component of Sdf will be [us-made] or another kind of
country made lesson
Well as far as the specifics of exactly
What brand of weapon will be used. I think we'll keep it at
small arms
And we're not really going to go into a lot of specificity with exactly what's being provided?
Doing so compromises
Operational Security so we don't really want isis to have tremendous insight into exactly what?
Resources and weapons will be provided [to] our partner force what I can tell you though is [that]?
All of these items are going to be metered out to accomplish specific
objectives for the isolation
And liberation of raqqa [and] we're going to carefully monitor
what's being provided and what it's used for and
We are completely committed to make sure that it's being used for exactly the purpose that we intend
Another question, are you going to provide anti-tank missiles like tall t o w?
Yep, I couldn't hear what you said, I'm sorry. Can you please repeat? Are you going to provide weapons such as
aunty times Missiles like Geo W tol missiles
We're going to provide
weapons that are capable of defeating
Vehicle-Borne improvised explosive devices of the type that we have seen throughout the campaign so the enemy
Builds on a regular vehicle they up armored it with a lot of elaborate
armor plating it's very difficult to defeat with a
rifle alone, so you need
Something with a little more capabilities some heavy machine guns and other capabilities that can address that level of threat
So I'm not going to go into further specifics on that
But I will tell you that every single one of these weapons that are being provided to our partner force
We intend to account for them and to sure that they are pointed at isis
[Jamie] McIntyre, Washington examiner colonel can you update us on what is the state of?
encirclement or isolation of Raqqa at this point and a second question
At this point is the operation to liberate
Rocket have any turkish component. Is there any [has] any role been carved out for turkey at this point?
Thanks, Jamie with regard to the isolation of [Raqqa]
With the completion of operations that [tapa] the city will be almost completely
Isolated to the North to the West into the east
it's very important to finish the
seizure of
taka and taka Dam
As you know top cut dam is the largest Dam in Syria and is a source of electric power including [to] raqqa
so we really want to assist our partner force in getting that under control this was an important area for
facilitation of
isis fighters in Raqqa they used it for supply command and control and [to] reinforce their fighters in Raqqa, so
It's good
that the the
syrian Democratic forces and syrian Arab coalition are making good progress in retaking that terrain
We also have partner Forces south of raqqa that are there to help interdict
any isis fighters who try to move south so
you know the city is almost completely isolated and
What we can expect is [that] you know our partner Forces will continue moving closer to the City?
[to] advance
To within striking distance in the meantime the coalition will continue to conduct airstrikes
And then our tillery strikes in the areas where our partners are active will continue to conduct airstrikes
Anywhere in [Syria], where isis fighters and resources can be found?
including
Raqqa what we've seen most recently from the enemy. Is that they're building a lot of
elaborate defenses in Raqqa
And so we're removing a lot of construction equipment and reducing the enemy's ability
To build those defenses, but they've had nearly three years
So there's are already a lot there
We'll do what we can to to
uncomplicated the situation for our partner forces they advance and retake that city as far as the turkish role for
What will happen in Raqqa?
[we] continue talking to turkey every single day there are turkish officers in the headquarters of
Cj [tf] [Oír] who are working every day to defeat isis in Iraq and Syria?
I
think [I] won't it would be best not to speculate about what other future roles there may be I know there's a lot of
Diplomatic discussion well above my level, and we'll just have to let that play out
one quick follow-up question up
How can you tell us at all?
How many isis fighters?
Or leaders have actually left raqqa at this point, and where they seem to have congregated
Do you have a do you have an idea of where they've gone and how many what strength they might be?
as far as numbers [and] exactly who
We don't really have that that I could offer you in in this forum what I would say is we [have] observed
isis Leaders leaving raqqa some of them
But there are still a substantial number who are in the city?
just to remind this is their
Self-proclaimed capital and they are not going to give it up easily
They're going to stay and fight and many of them are going to be killed there
There are some and what we've seen throughout the campaign is that when isis leaders?
Understand that they are about [to] lose terrain or lose a key area
They often move their families out
and then some of the key leaders move out and they leave orders for their fighters or lower-level commanders to stay in place and
fight and die in place
And they do that in a manner. That's very directive and they punish those
Who don't follow that order they have been known to execute their fighters who leave?
After being directed [to] stand and fight and die and that [is] something that we're still seeing throughout
The areas that isis is losing in
including mosul
Okay, not next to kassim larry from [Anatolia] [news] [agency]
Thank you [very] much. : most of my questions. I actually have in colored biking, but can you tell us?
House as you have started to deliver arms to [this] to the SdF partners
How soon the raqqa liberation or liberating operation will start?
Well, we do believe that the delivery of these capabilities will accelerate
and
Enable the campaign to go in and Seize [raqqa] as you know the enemy has built elaborate defenses
They're similar to what we've seen in
Mosul [and] this is going to take a tremendous effort and a lot of concerted
Cooperation between the coalition and our partner force in order for them to be successful in Raqqa
I can't put an exact timeline on it. I think we'll in the interest of operational security
[we] want to let the enemy worry about when our partner forces are going to start
but in the meantime the coalition will continue hammering the enemy anywhere that they can be found as
Preparatory fires and shaping efforts to help pave the way for the liberation of the city
Is there a number above both number that you can give us about the sdf?
Forces that are going to benefit from those arms that you are
providing
You know I really don't have the exact number because doing so we've not shared the exact number of fighters
that are going to go into
Raqqa and Liberate the City
So I don't have that what I would say is that the the majority of the fighters?
That are operating in the isolation effort are syrian arabs, and we'll continue to focus on
arming them and we've just added the [additional] element of the Kurdish element, so the
Arab fighters that are there
To isolate the city, and that's something that we expect to continue as the liberation battle ensues
Okay, thanks. [we're] go to add reese sally from reuters
Resources have begun being dispersed very quickly. So have [them] started being dispersed or will they be dispersed soon
to the yPG specifically
Yeah, I don't have that level of fidelity on exactly when these
Capabilities are going to be put into the hands of the Kurdish elements what I would tell you is [that]
You know we've got a certain [amount] of supply in the in the country already
That was used to
equip the Syrian Arab coalition
And some of that may be distributed very quickly
But I don't have a by the minute
Progress report on what's been put in
Which groups hands went and where it has it has anything moved so far
that business
I'm sorry address can you repeat the question anything move to the yPG so far since the announcement yesterday?
Yeah, I don't know I don't know if if anything has [been] put in their hands
What I would tell you is [that] yesterday's decision was to grant authorities and the intent
In that decision was to assure that the capabilities that are going to be provided would be metered out
consistent with various objectives in the
campaign so
It will be driven out on an as-needed basis. We'll continue focusing on the the
syrian Arab
Element, but we've at you know we intend to add the Kurdish element as well
Next Ryan Brown Cnn
For doing this with one [last] time for us
[I] had a question about what [you] just said in terms of we keep hearing that it built the
Arms and equipment to the Kurds will be metered out on an objective by objective basis does that mean these weapons would be
Reclaimed once that objective is completed
no that means that they will expend these resources fighting isis and
isis Will
pay the price for their
Capabilities being available to our partner Force great and thank you for that and just one other question [I]
Understand the original statement had talked about you know the vetting has remained
Unchanged and all you know in terms of assistance now that these Kurdish groups are being
Included in the arming and equipping will to be any additional [vetting] that needs to occur or are they considered already?
Appropriately vetted to receive arms
One of the one [of] the fundamental principles that we operate by is
That we resource only entities that can be vetted
That are not going to be involved in human rights abuses that are going to follow the laws of armed Conflict
[so] that has been done with any element that is receiving these capabilities and resources
if there are additional
People that are you know we're vetting people
all the time
[and] then of course
We continue to monitor what our partner forces do during the campaign and if there's any type of?
departure
from those fundamental principles
Then that certainly would be something that would curtail
what we do
from then forward
Thank you, sir
all right next Richard sisk [of] [military] [comm]
Hi Colonel
Can you say whether us forces are still continuing to go up to the turkey-Syria border where there had been some?
clashes between the YPG
cross-Border
Cross-Border firing or us forces filled providing a visible presence up there
Yep, thanks. Richard. You know we the
[thing] about the the
Those forces that were patrolling up there. There's really nothing new about what they were doing
we had done it intermittently throughout the campaign and we will continue to do it intermittently throughout the campaign so
We're not really going to announce
How often we're doing it we're not going to announce when we stop doing it?
But it is something that will be done on an as-needed basis
But one of the things that's very important to understand here is that as many of our forces as we can
And as many of our partnered forces as we can and as many nato coalition partners as we can we want to keep focused on
fighting isis because they are the biggest
threat to Iraq and Syria and they are a big threat [to] the region and then the big threat for
international Terrorism so the whole purpose of those
Patrols when we were doing them is to
Keep everyone focused on fighting isis, so that's something that was done and be done by exception
And colonel locke. Thanks many many, thanks for your patience and professionalism over this past year
Thank you
Have a quick one
With all the movement on the battlefield and all the fighting and everything in recent weeks
And months is it fair right right now today to say that raqqa is the largest
concentration of isis fighters
[I]
Just I'm trying to understand. You know what's left in mosul
And any movement down down the you know the river there and everything is there anywhere else [where] there's a massive
amount of isis fighters at this point
It's safe to say that raqqa is the major objective. That is the
Focus that is where the largest [concentration] of fighters are the largest number of fighters remain I would say
in Milton west mosul they're very concentrated in a very small [area] but
That concentration gets
Less with each passing day, so in Raqqa
That is the largest the largest number that you find in any
City or Town or Village
Anywhere in Iraq or Syria? We do see significant numbers of [fighters], Elsewhere along the euphrates River Valley?
and
You do see in Iraq
significant numbers of fighters in places like Hawea
Tala Far and Beige
So those are areas that will be cleared out later. We'll continue working with our partner forces
And we'll defeat isis in those places, too
Okay, David Martin CBs news now just to be clear on [top] good
You said that the city is mostly liberated, but the Dam
remains in
Under the control of isis is that correct and is there any?
Sign that isis is preparing to
Sabotage the Dam
David it's correct to say that
the overwhelming preponderance of
Top cut City has been liberated
[there's] still some areas where the last I heard [the] enemy was still doing some clearing operations
They had however cut off isis
from the City at top Kadam
[we] don't have any indications at this point that they have any
Plan to sabotage the dam, but they are heavily barricaded in there and these are
Some of the you know most troubling elements of isis in that in that area you know the foreign fighters
and
So it's going to be very difficult battle to
Liberate the Dam and
[second] question is since yesterday's announcement on farming occurs has there been any change in the
mill the Mill relations between
turkey and the coalition any
Any restrictions on operations that?
[Incirlik] any meetings cancelled or not attended
David I'm not aware of any changes
you know that says of this afternoon, so I'm not aware of any changes both the
Coalition the [us] Turkey have all Expressed Commitment to defeating isis
And we believe we're completely on the same page
With the necessity of [doing] that because isis threatens every nation
They threaten every nation in the region
They threaten Europe and they threaten the world, so we're going to keep working closely with turkey
[we] very much value their
Security and isis threatens them as has the pKk which
The us has recognized as a terrorist organization
For right about 20 years now
[so] we're going to stay [focused] on working with them to defeat isis
Okay, couple Follow-ups Laurie Milroy from Kurdistan 24
Thank you, sir. You mentioned earlier
[that] there were partnered forces south of raqqa that were catching any isis moving to the south
Are those also the Sdf are they some other?
partner pours
No, those are vetted syrian opposition. Those are syrian arabs
who
Recognize that isis poses a threat to the entire country and they don't want to live under isis control
so there are more elements than just the sdf and syrian arab coalition that
Have major problems with isis and whenever we find
Groups that are willing to follow the principles that we believe are essential
to defeating isis which is
loic
following the laws of Armed Conflict and
not
conducting human rights abuses [we're] going to try to
identify and work with those partners
So are you continuing to develop partners partner forces in Syria for this this fight? That's something ongoing
Absolutely that also is a fundamental principle of the campaign
[we] have trained forces even after we're working as we work with partner forces to liberate
the areas that are under isis control
for example in Iraq we've trained more than
97,000 forces there are thousands of forces in training now, we but begun
Refocusing the effort from training our army elements to increase the amount of police forces that we believe will be
essential as isis continues
Losing territory. They'll devolve into a terror type insurgent threat and
Police forces are a key element in defeating that threat all right? Yes, Michael. Go ahead
I'm idea just a quick follow
the equipment the weapons that are going to be distributed [to] the Kurdish elements and
the the sack
Will require some training presumably on the part of the us?
How much training?
Do you envision?
Will be needed to get them to operate mortars or anti-tank or vehicles. We're just talking about a matter of days
Who's going to do the training and where are you going to do it and?
Has that begun?
And thanks Michael. We've we have trained a significant number of forces
Throughout the campaign so this is conducted by [our] special operations forces working with the syrian Arab coalition
there probably will be some additional training efforts, but I don't have a
The level of detail that you're asking [for] I think that's something we're going to have to take and probably get you a little more
Detailed answer as a follow-up
okay, and cast them I [figure] [to] follow up as well and
That's a lot of question to Ryan's questions. You said that those arms are not going to be reclaimed core
Can you tell us what will happen to those significant arms after the defeat of isis or the missions are completed?
Yep, thank you for that
Those those weapons are going to be expended and used
in order to
Defeat isis, so one of the things that's important to understand here is if you're talking about
Rifles and these types of weapons the availability of ammunition is also a limiting factor
[so] as these things are expanded they're metered out for specific purposes there's a
natural limitation on what can be done
Once those supplies are expended so that is that is one of the limits
on on
What will happen with all these weapons later?
so
Then how would you ensure that?
those arms at some point would [not] turn to
You know partnered forces or opposition groups or any other partner country?
Well, it's not just the metering of the capabilities. That's a limitation here. We are
Observing what's going on with these weapons. We're making sure that they're used for the purpose that they're being given
we have
Made sure that those who are receiving these weapons
[pledge] to use them against isis
And we're going to be watching to make sure
That that's how they're used so I won't get into a speculative discussion about what?
We may do although I will say that certainly any departure from what's been agreed
will
affect
How we operate with partner forces going forward that's just a fundamental principle here
And it's one that we've followed with every force
that we work with
Thank you
All right
anyone Else
so
John we just wanted to say thank you. It was a year ago
I think you were sitting in Colorado Springs at Air Force space command
And you volunteered raised your hand and agreed to go off to this very challenging and important job
And it was something you've done a great sacrifice
to your own own life and your own family
But we wanted to thank you for your weekly updates have been
Very valuable you're in updates to us your updates with the Iraqi press your updates with the international press and the press corps there in
Baghdad have helped to ensure that
We have an informed public when it comes to understanding this important campaign to defeat isis
and you have done that so on behalf of the secretary on behalf of
Assistant to the secretary defense republic affairs past and present dana white and Peter cook before him for [her]
And all the team here and the press corps we want to thank you for for your service and doing this we look forward to
Seeing Ryan Dillon here in the coming weeks, and we wish you
Godspeed and best of luck as you return home to your family in Colorado
We'll turn it over to you
Jack I want to thank you for the kind word, and I want to thank all of our friends in the pentagon press
for being patient with me even for the times that you weren't patient with me because
I'm a firm believer in the importance of being as transparent as we can explaining. What's going on with the campaign
[people] need to understand how important what's happening here in
Iraq and Syria is to our national security and it's been a true privilege
To be the person to help with that [I] have been working closely with my esteemed colleague
Ryan Dillon who is eager to get started next week?
I'm going to remain here for several more days to be a resource to him as he transitioned in
And what I would ask is you continue to challenge him and have him explain what we're doing accurately in context
That's what we're going for and I also want to thank all [my] partners and friends at Osd
at centcom and then special
Thanks to my esteemed colleague and battle buddy. Joe [Scar] akka many of the answers [that] I have been
Privileged to give to you frankly those answers a lot of the time come from our headquarters
So Joe struck and the entire team down at Arif John that they've just been
Incredible so I wish you all the best
I'm not going to be a person who melts away, and I look forward [to] working with all of you and seeing you around again
done a great job for [an] Air Force guy and
We look forward we look forward to seeing you back on this end of the pond soon. Thanks everybody
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