- Good morning everybody.
Before we get started, JD, just wanna make sure
we can hear you and you can hear us.
- I've got you loud and clear, Jeff, thank you.
- Great, thanks, ladies and gentlemen
we're pleased to be welcomed today by Col. John Dorrian,
the spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve
coming to us live from Baghdad.
JD, we'll turn it over to you
for any opening comments you have.
- Great, thanks Jeff.
Good morning all, today we'll start
in Syria and we'll move on to Iraq.
In Syria, significant progress is being made
in liberating previously held Daesh territory.
In the past week, coalition conducted
more than 60 kinetic strikes against
ISIL fighters, leaders, and infrastructure
to support the Syrian Democratic Forces operations
to isolate Raqqa along two converging axes of advance.
The SDF has liberated 270 square kilometers,
321 since the beginning of the operation.
As you know, Daesh consider Raqqa their capital in Syria,
so we expect resistance to stiffen
as forces move closer to the city.
Of note, coalition forces conducted a strike
resulting in the death of Iraqi national
Abd al-Basit al-Iraqi,
who was emir of ISIL's Middle East external networks,
including against American, Turkish, and European targets.
Abd al-Basit was struck and killed
November 12th in Raqqa, Syria.
He was a key facilitator for ISIL's
external operations routes through Turkey
and was responsible for attacks within the Middle East.
Along with these external attacks and plots,
he's also been connected to convoy, reconnaissance,
and facilitation extremist travel,
finances, and weapons in the region.
His death degrades and delays ISIL's current plots
against regional targets, and deprives them
of a capable senior manager
who provided oversight over many external attacks.
In Iraq, Iraqi security forces continue making progress
in clearing areas of Daesh presence in Mosul
and have seen fierce resistance that they had planned for
and that we've been talking about for months.
This is neighborhood-to-neighborhood fighting,
particularly in the east, and the Iraqi security forces
have moved deliberately and exercised a laudable level
of restraint in an effort to protect civilian life.
Daesh have done the opposite, taking human shields,
dressing as ISF, and arresting people
who react positively to their presence,
arresting civilians for having phones,
and using tunnels to infiltrate civilian neighborhoods.
This is extremely tough fighting, but the ISF
have continued their advance, liberating Nimrud
this past week after initial tough fighting,
followed by Daesh retreating toward Mosul.
As many of you know, the enemy destroyed
a lot of ancient architecture at Nimrud
and then sold artifacts on the black market
in order to finance their operations.
This is another in a string of atrocities conducted by Daesh
and the evidence of these events mounts
as they continue to lose territory.
Finally, I'd like to show a video taken near Tal Afar.
Jeff, if you could roll that video.
Coalition air...
Have a photo.
- [Jeff] JD, if we could ask you to go back,
we lost you when we switched to the video.
Can we ask you to tell us about the video again?
And then, we do now have the photo up,
you can talk to the photo as well.
- Okay, well, the video that you're seeing
is of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device factory
near Tal Afar.
As you can see, there is some pretty significant
secondary explosions as that's taken out from an airstrike.
- [Jeff] Next, tell us about the photo we see.
- You'll have to let me know once the video's done, Jeff.
- [Jeff] We're ready to talk about that cool photo.
- The photo that you're looking at
is a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device that was
captured in Peshmerga territory
and it's now used to train Peshmerga forces
at one of our training sites in northern Iraq.
As you can see, it's reminiscent of a Mad Max vehicle,
with armored plating in the front to protect the driver
until he can detonate the explosives he's carrying on board.
The coalition has used strikes mostly from the air
to destroy these anywhere that they can be found.
Around Mosul, we've destroyed 60-plus
since the Iraqi forces commenced their operation
to liberate the city on October 17th.
And I'm sure you'll recall that we destroyed hundreds
of these during the shaping operations
in the months leading up to the Mosul operation.
Okay, so now I'll be delighted to take your questions.
- We'll start with Lita Baldor from the Associated Press.
- Thanks, John.
Turkey has today been talking about how close they are in
getting into Al-Bab.
Can you give us a sense of are they within
a couple kilometers of getting in?
What kind of resistance are you hearing
that they're meeting?
And I have a second follow-up.
- Sure, they are very close.
The last I heard, they were within a couple of kilometers.
I just checked in with our ops center.
They've not yet moved into Al-Bab and taken the city,
but they are very, very close,
encountering some very pretty tough resistance.
They do expect to be able to power through that.
- And secondly, we keep hearing about this effort
and need to train up more Syrian Arab fighters.
Can you give us an update on how that's going?
How many are coming in?
How many do you have trained up now?
- Well, you know what, the number that we have,
I don't have an updated number on that.
I can tell you that our partners are very keen
to increase the size of the force,
particularly of Syrian Arabs, from the local area there.
We'll have to owe you an update on the numbers
that they're getting.
- But do you have any sense as to whether
or not the effort is actually moving?
Is there an increase at all, do you know?
- I just don't have any figures for you, Lita.
I don't know.
I'll have to check in on that and owe you that answer.
One thing I would say, though, is we do expect
this isolation phase to go on for a number of weeks,
perhaps months even.
And it's going to be a deliberate approach.
So, you know, there's plenty of time
for our partners to work this issue.
- Tom Bowman from National Public Radio.
- Hey, colonel, I want to stay in Al-Bab for a second.
There were a lot of people here in Washington
who were concerned about the Turks moving on Al-Bab,
you know, basically cutting off the two Kurdish enclaves
and Syria made some comments about
maybe we'll attack the Turks as they head to Al-Bab.
Just give us your sense from the command over there.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing
that the Turks are heading to Al-Bab?
And will it have problems with
the Kurdish forces heading toward Raqqa?
They'll be looking over their shoulder.
- Well, this is a situation where Turkey,
with their partnered force, have made the decision
that they're going to take Al-Bab.
It's a very complicated battlefield with a lot of actors,
with sometimes competing interests.
Certainly we're not going to wish that any area
of northern Syria remain in Daesh hands,
but we have been working in ongoing dialogue
with Turkey and with our partners
and with other coalition members
to try and make sure that we de-conflict all
of our operations because we don't want there
to be problems such as you describe.
- Well, is the command supportive of
this Turkish move into Al-Bab?
Is it a good thing?
- Well, you know what?
What I would say about that is the coalition
has not been a part of the Turkish advance toward Al-Bab.
This is a national decision that they made.
What we are definitely positive about is that
everybody here, Turkey and us and our partners on the ground
and the partnered force that's working with Turkey,
all have a vested interest in defeating Daesh.
And this is something that there will be
ongoing political discussions about.
It's really not for me to characterize that at this point.
- That the Turkish troops have moved deeper
into Syria after the Al-Bab operation?
- Well, that's a decision that they'll make
and it will be one, again, that will be the focus
of ongoing political discussion.
The coalition continues to work with our partners,
the Syrian Democratic Forces,
and there’re a contingent of Syrian Arabs, to isolate Raqqa,
and then we'll continue the political dialogue with Turkey
and our partners and our allies
on the way forward from there.
- We'll go to Courtney Kube from NBC News.
- Hey, JD, just one more on Al-Bab.
When you're saying there's political discussion,
you're saying that there's no military to,
I guess the coalition or US military,
to Turkish military discussions encouraging them
to continue to go after ISIS,
but leave the YPG alone and maybe not move towards Al-Bab?
There's no mil-to-mil discussion going on about that?
- Well, there are daily mil-to-mil discussions
between the coalition and Turkey because Turkey is a part
of the international coalition to defeat Daesh.
As far as the deconfliction effort,
that's kind of what we're talking about here.
So what we want to do is keep everybody focused
on defeating Daesh, make sure there are clear lanes
in the road for all of our partners
to make sure that there's no miscalculation
of misunderstanding or where we end up
with a situation that complicates matters
rather than facilitating Daesh's defeat.
- And this, the Turkish towards Al-Bab,
you haven't seen that slowing down
the SDF move south towards Raqqa?
That's not having an impact on the movement
with the YPG component of the SDF?
- Well, the SDF has continued their operations
along two axes of advance, and what we expect
is that once those axes converge,
they'll back-clear some of the area behind that.
There's a significant pocket with a lot of Daesh presence,
and this has been their plan.
It's going according to their plan
and along the timeline that they expected to do.
- And then could you just tell us a little bit more
about the guy, I'm sorry, I didn't get his name.
Was it Abdel Baqqah I think,
who you mentioned was killed on the 12th?
Was it a US airstrike?
What was the platform?
And when you talk about some of his external attack plots,
can you give us some specifics about things he might have
been involved in either planning or actually executing?
- No, you know what, Courtney, I just don't really have
that level of detail to provide.
So we can take those questions
and follow up with you afterward.
- [Courtney] Cool, thank you.
- Next we'll go to Kasim Ileri with Anadolu.
- Colonel, thanks for doing this.
My question would be a controversial tweet
by presidential envoy Ambassador McGurk,
who said that YPG elements are still in Manbij
to train the local fighters and these guys
are going to depart Manbij and cross the east of Euphrates
after local units complete training, McGurk said.
I have asked this question maybe 100 times
from different platforms, to you, to all other officials,
and they categorically denied that
any YPG elements are in the city.
They have left, they have crossed the city.
And even Pentagon made an announcement saying
that they appreciate that the YPG elements
or SDF elements crossed back to the east of the city.
And now, we hear the presidential envoy saying
that these guys are there to train local forces.
Could you square this circle for me, please?
What does this tell us about all
you have been saying from the very beginning?
- Well, what we have been saying from the beginning
is that the YPG had largely left
and that the leadership elements were gone.
They did leave some people in place
to train the Manbij Military Council
so that Daesh can't reinfiltrate
and take the city that so many had fought so hard to take.
So that's what was happening there
and I can verify for you that the YPG elements
have indeed moved out of Manbij.
- So you're saying that no YPG elements are still in Manbij?
- That's right.
- And McGurk says they are there,
they will depart after they complete
the training of the local forces first.
And secondly, this is the first time that I hear from you
saying that the leadership has left,
while some part of the forces are going
to remain inside city to train the Manbij military council.
This is the first time, frankly,
that I hear this, and today that you are saying it.
You say that now they have trained,
they completed, and they have left.
Is that what you say?
So do you deny what McGurk has said?
- No, I'm verifying what Special Envoy McGurk said.
- So this says they will depart when they complete training.
And you say they have left.
- That's my understanding, yes.
- [Kasim] Thank you.
- Next we have by Kurdistan 24.
- Right, Laurie Mylroie, Kurdistan 24.
The Shiite militia, the Hashd al Shaabi,
are now moving on Tal Afar.
They're very close to it.
How do you see that offensive going?
And are you concerned about their committing
human rights violations against the Sunnis
and the Sunni areas that they'll move in to?
- Well, what we know about the Popular Mobilization Forces
is that they've moved out southwest of Tal Afar.
They're not in the city, they're very close to it.
And that move is intended to block any egress area
for Daesh who are in Mosul.
It'll block them so that they won't be able
to move westward as the pressure inside Mosul increases.
So that's the Iraqi plan.
That's what's been briefed to us and that's
what we've observed on the battlefield thus far.
- Into Tal Afar once they are on the edge of the city?
- I heard you said something on the edge of the city.
I didn't hear the first part of your question.
- Once they get to the edge of Tal Afar,
they're very close to it, as you have said,
will they move into the city itself?
- Well, what I have heard is that the plan
is for them to stay outside the city,
and that the Iraqi army will indeed be the force
that goes in to Tal Afar.
And that they'll remain in their blocking positions.
That's what I've seen of the plan
and thus far that's what's happened.
- And if I could ask you about the SDF.
You mentioned there were two axes of advance
that were going to converge.
This is advance on Raqqa?
- Yeah, that's correct.
It's advancing toward Raqqa, and then they'll converge
and then back-clear the pocket
that they created with their advance.
So, they're moving toward Raqqa
and then they'll back-clear the area
that they create on the two axes of advance.
- How do you assess their progress so far?
- Well, they're on plan.
We've dropped about 250 munitions
to support their operations,
and these are against Daesh targets,
vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices,
fighting positions, their fighters.
So they've been successful and they've been able
to move in the directions that they intended to.
They've met moderate resistance along the way,
but they've been able to execute their plan.
- Next we'll go to Laurent Barthelemy
with Agence France-Press.
- Hi, colonel, thank you for doing this.
I'm not sure I understand the position of the coalition
towards the Turkish offensive on Al-Bab.
Are you saying that the coalition will not do
any airstrikes, for instance, to support
the Turkish force as they fought?
- Well, what I'm telling you is we've not supported
the advance to Al-Bab thus far.
We did conduct a lot of strikes in support
of the Turkish military and their partnered force
as they conducted operations
to clear Daesh along their border.
So this is a decision they've made to go into Al-Bab,
but it's not one that the coalition
has provided strikes in support of.
- Can you explain why the coalition has taken this position?
- Well, we believe that all of the operations in Syria
against Daesh should be coordinated very closely
between all the parties that are involved.
This is something that they've decided to do independently
and what we'd like to do is to continue to work with them
to develop a plan where everyone remains focused on Daesh.
We have good deconfliction measures in place
and we don't have any chance of partners
that both have an interest in defeating Daesh
converging in a way that would be unhelpful.
- Okay, next we'll go to Ryan Browne with CNN.
- Hello, colonel, thank you for doing this.
Just a question on Mosul.
Have US advisers entered the city as the CTS
makes progress going neighborhood by neighborhood?
Have they at any point entered the city
and maybe have left or are in the city now?
Could you talk a little bit about
whether or not US personnel or coalition personnel
have actually breached the city limits?
- Well, what I would say about that is that
the Iraqi forces have gotten about
1/3 of the way into eastern Mosul.
That's a very small area and we're not gonna comment
on the position of our US or coalition advisers
in relation to those forces.
They remain behind the forward line of troops.
They're there in an advisory role.
And one of the things that's very important
to understand here is that it's not the role
of the coalition to close on the enemy
and try to take that terrain.
That's a job for the Iraqi security forces
and that's an enduring theme.
So we're not gonna get into the exact position
of US or coalition forces in Mosul.
That's not something we're going to do.
- Okay, and I just want to have a follow-up on Al-Bab.
Just a point of clarity.
So currently, ISIS is on control of Al-Bab, is that correct?
- That is correct.
Not for long, probably.
- That's good to know.
Just following up on Laurent’s question about
the decision not to conduct airstrikes against ISIS
in Al-Bab in support of the Turkish incursion.
That seems to be a signal that there is,
it seems to be a pretty strong signal to a member
of the coalition that what they're doing is not appropriate.
- Well, it's a signal that there needs to be some continued,
ongoing diplomatic discussions about the manner in which
we continue to fight Daesh in northern Syria.
That's been something that we've talked about
for quite some time.
Beyond that, I really don't have
any detail to provide about that.
- Alright, next we'll go with Tolga Tanis from Hurriyet.
- Hi, colonel.
A quick question on Al-Bab to clarify something.
You were supporting Turkish forces
in clearing this border area since the Jarablus operation,
one week or 10 days after the Jarablus operation.
When did you stop to support this advance?
I mean, is there any limit, for example,
from the Turkish border?
20 kilometers, 25 kilometers, something like that?
- You know what?
I'm not going to get into the coordination process
that we have with Turkey.
That's something that we do between us and our ally.
I understand why you're asking,
but as a matter of operational security,
that's just not something that we're going to get into.
- Can you give us a timeline?
I mean, when was the last time
that you supported this advance?
One week ago or two weeks ago?
When did you stop this support
to the Turkish advance in the area?
- Well, we've continued to provide air support for Turkey
in a variety of locations across northern Syria.
As far as when we stopped supporting it,
I'm not going to get into the details.
- Conflict this advance with you,
they are conducting airstrikes in the area.
Did they conflict this with you?
- I couldn't hear what you said, did--
- Military, did they de-conflict this airstrikes
that they are conducting in the area with coalition?
- I would have to check on that.
I know we have a lot of ongoing dialogue with Turkey
about airstrikes and de-conflicting those
and making sure we maintain safety of flight.
But I don't know that answer to that.
We'll take that question and get back with you.
- Last one, colonel.
Do you have any communication channels
with the Afrin Kurds who are also advancing to Al-Bab?
And are you concerned any clash between Afrin Kurds
and the Turkish military in the area?
- I'll have to take that question as well.
- Next, we'll go to Joe Tabe with Al Hurra.
- Thank you, JD.
In regards to the operation to isolate Raqqa,
could you give us a sense about the size of the YPG
who are involved in the operation?
And also, could you confirm that British
and American special forces are with the YPG on the ground?
- Well, I'm not gonna confirm the location
of coalition forces in Syria.
We've not done that
and we're not gonna get into that business now.
The size of the force is also something
that just detail-wise, it'd be really inappropriate
for me to get into that level of detail.
So you know, it's fraction of their overall force
in order to isolate Raqqa.
It doesn't require all their forces, and indeed,
it's important that they have remaining forces in areas
that have been taken from Daesh control elsewhere
so that Daesh is unable to reinfiltrate those areas.
But they do have adequate forces to continue
their advance and to continue the isolation effort.
- Quick follow-up.
What about Turkey in regards to the Raqqa operation?
Do you know if Turkey will play any role in that operation?
- This is an area where the chairman and our leadership
have been very clear that we're still working out
the details for the overall effort
and there will be an ongoing diplomatic effort
with Turkey and with our partners and with the coalition
to determine what roles and how we might do this
in the most productive and effective possible way.
So I don't have any details on where we are with all that.
That's in a diplomatic channel.
And so really, it has yet to be determined
what role Turkey might have.
- [Joe] Thank you.
- I think we'll go to Luis Martinez with ABC News.
- Hey, John, question about Al-Bab.
Aren't the US advisers accompanying
Turkish-supported rebel forces or Turkish forces?
I mean, I think that was happening at some point.
Is that still continuing?
And are they involved in the support
of the Al-Bab operation?
- We did have forces partnered with Turkey
and their partnered forces for quite some time
through a lot of the operations in northern Syria.
They are not a part of the advance on Al-Bab.
- Does that mean that they were removed
after that advance on Al-Bab began?
- Yes.
- Can I ask you a question about Mosul, please?
You're talking about the tough fight
in the eastern part of Mosul.
The presence of civilians in that battle space,
how is that complicating the potential
for airstrikes there to support of the ISF?
And can you describe the efforts
to prevent civilian casualties on that battle space?
- Anytime that you have dense urban warfare
like you see in Mosul, it's a very challenging situation,
but we do have the capability to strike enemy targets.
What that does, it influences the manner
in which we conduct our strikes.
Now, we continue to use our intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance, our eyes in the sky,
in order to verify targets and we continue
to coordinate those with the Iraqis
both in our operation centers and on the ground.
And we also think about things like
the size of the weapons that we use.
Now, the Air Force and all of our coalition forces
have 2,000-pound bombs.
We also have small diameter bombs, 250 pounds.
And so we might influence the types of choices
that we make with regard to what weapons are used.
We are following the Iraqi lead.
They've shown a considerable amount of restraint
with the manner in which they've advanced into the city.
They've tried very hard to protect civilians.
We see some of the open source reports
with Iraqi security forces sharing their rations,
sharing their medical supplies with civilians.
That's a pretty laudable effort.
We think it's something that all Iraqis
ought to be proud of.
And we're going to follow suit with that.
But make no mistake, we will take every opportunity
that we can to remove capabilities that Daesh would use
on the battlefield in order to create danger.
We'll take every opportunity to do that.
- Can I ask you one last question about
this Mad Max vehicle you describe here?
You said it's now being used for training.
Is there a standardized kind of concept
for how these vehicles are created?
And what kind of training is involved?
What are the Pesh doing with this vehicle?
- Well, as far as, you know, that vehicle, that is
a captured vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.
So it was stopped with 50-caliber weapons fire.
As you can see, the front of it has
a significant amount of armor plating.
And what that does is it protects the driver
so he can maneuver the VBIED into position
and then detonate the explosives that are in there.
So as we conduct our training,
and this is something that's been going on for some months,
with the Peshmerga and with the Iraqi security forces,
we knew that they were going to go into
a dense urban-type fight in order to take Mosul.
And so they use this capability and teach the forces
how to react to that threat and don
the appropriate weapon so that they can stop those.
- Thank you.
- We'll go to Lucas Tomlinson with Fox News.
- Colonel, just to follow up on Ryan's question.
Can you rule out that US forces are inside Mosul?
- No, I cannot.
We're not going to verify the location
of US or coalition forces in Mosul.
That would just be inappropriate to do that.
We do remain behind the forward line of troops.
It's not our role to take terrain or close with the enemy.
They're there as advisers.
As the Iraqis move, if they need us,
we'll go where they need us.
- Important are those US advisers to this fight?
- Well, there's no question
that US advisers are in harm's way.
We do advise the CTS.
They are in the thick of a very tough battle.
So there is a significant amount of danger here,
especially on the eastern axis as they moved into the city.
They moved through some very tough resistance
as they've approached the city.
Our advisers are close by.
So the enemy does get a vote, but our forces
are not really going to be trifled with.
They will most certainly defend themselves.
And they are there strictly to advise and assist
the Iraqi security forces and in this case the CTS.
- More months will this Mosul operation take?
- It's very difficult to predict
how long it's going to take.
As all the Iraqi security forces converge on the city
and the Iraqis continue to maneuver through there,
and we continue to conduct our strikes.
We've conducted more than 4,000 so far,
dropping bombs on Daesh targets,
and that's killed hundreds of their fighters,
it's removed hundreds of their
fighting positions and weapons.
We've taken out more than 80 tunnels, taken out
more than 60 vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.
Eventually, the enemy is gonna break.
It's gonna take quite some time, and what they've done,
all these tactics that they've used to increase danger
for the civilians there, what that means is
it's gonna be a very deliberate fight, very dangerous fight
for the forces that are advancing there.
But we'll continue striking the enemy
until, ultimately, the Iraqis are gonna take that city.
And that is, as you know, the Daesh capital in Iraq.
It's gonna be taken from them and then they'll be back
to just being a garden variety terrorist group.
And the Iraqis will be in mop-up duty then.
- Lastly, how tenacious is ISIS in this fight?
- You have to say they're tenacious.
I would also say they're despicable
because what they've done is they've poisoned
the air that Iraqi children breathe.
They've lit a bunch of oil fires that also poison the air.
They've used vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices
and detonated them in civilian areas.
They've hid behind civilians
and it's just a cowardly tactic.
They've driven millions of people from their homes
and they've killed tens of thousands of people.
So really, while they are certainly
a very tough and adaptive enemy,
really what they are is a despicable enemy
with absolutely no legitimacy whatsoever,
using cowardly tactics.
- Okay, Courtney Kube, I think you had a follow-up.
- Can I just ask you about
the recent strikes in Aleppo in the last 24 to 48 hours?
What's your assessment now that they've been going on
for a while on who's conducting most of the strikes?
Is it Russia or is it the Syrian regime?
And what are the fighter jets that are flying off
the Russian carrier, do you see them
actually dropping anything in Aleppo?
And can you give us any sense of what they're striking?
- You know what, Courtney, I'm afraid
I'm gonna have to refer you to
my esteemed colleagues in the Pentagon for that one.
We are focused strictly on the fight against Daesh and
all those issues are not really a part of our portfolio.
Although they're in Syria, there's not really
a significant Daesh presence in Aleppo,
and all the things you're asking about
are just not things that we track day-to-day here
in the Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve.
- Did the Russians give you a heads up
that they were going to be firing any cruise missiles
in the deconfliction line or that
they were gonna be flying any new aircraft?
Was there any discussion about that?
- I'll have to circle back with you on that.
I know we continue our deconfliction effort
with the Russians, that is an ongoing process.
I'll have to check and we'll owe you that answer, Courtney.
- [Courtney] Thank you.
- Ma’m, I'm sorry, I don't know your name.
- [Caroline] Caroline Houck, Defense One.
- Hi, Caroline, go ahead.
- Hi.
In the immediate week after the Kurdish allies announced
their intent to beginning advancing on Raqqa,
we saw a quick ramp-up of supporting strikes
in say, places like Anisa, and now kind of a tapering off
to a maybe average or slightly above average pace.
Can you talk to me a little bit about the pace
of the advance and how long you expect it
to continue and the US support of it?
- Well, it'll be a deliberate plan.
It's gonna be conducted in phases.
What I would say is that our partners are exactly where
they intended to be at the time they intended to be there.
They've been able to move
against the enemy very effectively.
They've encountered moderate resistance,
but they've been able to continue their advance.
Our strikes have been relatively consistent
in that area and we'll continue to do that.
Certainly, we're gonna take every opportunity we can
to destroy Daesh targets anywhere
on the battlefield that they can be found.
They should sleep with one eye open
because we're not gonna give them a moment's peace.
Any time that we can remove danger from the battlefield,
we'll do so very similar to the video
we showed you in Tal Afar.
We're gonna remove any dangerous capability that Daesh has
any time that we have a window of opportunity to do it.
- Do you have any specific examples
of the dangerous capabilities that the strikes
have been targeting in support of that advance?
- Well, what we've encountered is that Daesh,
in anticipation of the advance on Raqqa,
they've created a significant number of fighting positions.
They have formations, groups of fighters
positioned in order to try and harass the advance.
And what we've done is we've taken every opportunity
to remove those from the battlefield with extreme prejudice.
- Next, go to Kasim, you had a follow-up, sorry.
- Colonel, I don't want to misreport you,
so I want to make something very clear.
Could you just clearly say whether
there are YPG forces in Manbij or not?
- I don't believe there are any.
My understanding is they were moving out.
- And then the other question,
you characterized the suspension of air support
to the Turkish-backed forces in northwest Syria
as a significant signal
for continuing diplomatic discussions
about how the counter-ISIL fight
should be conducted in northwest Syria.
- I'm not sure I understand the question, help me--
- You characterized the suspension of airstrikes
in support of the Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria
as a signal for the continuing diplomatic discussions
about how to conduct the fight against ISIS
in northwestern part of Syria.
As we know that there are, for example,
in northeastern Syria, there was also a discussion
between Turkey and United States
and all other coalition partners
whether you should continue to support YPG or not because
of their controversial separatist ideologies and so on.
And despite all these discussions,
the strikes in northeastern Syria continued.
But when it comes to the northwest part of Syria,
the Syrian territory, now you are putting
some kind of condition, saying that before we resume,
the diplomatic discussion should come to a point.
Could you tell us what is the condition
that would have you resume the airstrikes
in northwestern Syria in support
of the Turkish-backed forces?
- I think what you're asking about
is the subject of ongoing diplomatic discussions.
It's beyond me, and I don't have insight
into what those discussions are.
So I think we'll just have to let those discussions play out
and that's really all there is to it.
- You're not aware of the condition
that will have you resume the airstrikes
in northwest Syria toward Al-Bab
or in support of the Turkish-backed forces?
Is that what you are saying?
- That's exactly what I'm saying.
I'm a spokesman for military operations.
This is a diplomatic issue
that's the subject of ongoing discussion.
I need to let the diplomatic side work that issue out.
It's not my place to opine about it.
- Laurie, I believe you had a follow-up?
- Yeah, I wanted to follow up on your answer
to my question on popular mobilization units in Tal Afar.
You said the Iraqi army will be
the force that enters the city.
Is the Iraqi army prepared to do so in the near future?
Or have difficulties with Mosul sort of slowed that down?
- My understanding is the Iraqis have adequate force
in order to take Tal Afar as well.
They'll do so on the timeline of their choosing.
They're going to continue operations in Mosul.
We're not going to put a timeline on Tal Afar.
- So do you have a sense whether it's like two weeks
or a month from now?
Do you have any idea?
- I do not.
And if I did, I probably wouldn't present it
in a Pentagon press brief.
I think I would let the Iraqi army conduct their operations
with operational security in mind.
- Lita Baldor with a follow-up.
- Just so I can close the loop on Manbij,
do you know if the YPG trainers
are still there, as McGurk suggested?
You seem to suggest that the YPG elements
have left or are leaving.
Are the trainers still there doing their training?
- You know what?
I think I'd have to circle back with you.
My understanding is they were departing
and they were doing that today.
But as far as whether every single one of them is gone,
I would be very uncomfortable saying every single one.
I know that they planned to leave.
I know that they were doing so.
But I think we'd have to circle back with you
if you're asking for a granular answer.
- Okay, and Tolga Tanis, I think you had a follow-up.
- Colonel, just to clarify the situation in Al-Bab.
Do you think that Turkish advance in Al-Bab
is undermining the effort to liberate Raqqa?
- I said nothing of the sort.
I just said that we haven't supported that operation
and there are ongoing diplomatic discussions
about the way forward for how Raqqa will be retaken.
- Townsend had said to Wall Street Journal
that Raqqa operations had hampered
by the Jarablus operation,
when the Turks started in August to clear the area
from Daesh, the border area.
He had said to Wall Street Journal that
Raqqa operation was hampered.
So, is this implication the same implication
that the basic concern of you stopped this
support to advance of Turkish military?
Is this the same concern that you have
regarding Raqqa operation?
- I haven't seen those reports
and I really wouldn't want to comment on that.
- Laurent, go ahead.
- Just a follow up on the Manbij situation.
Can you just record who is in charge now
of the security in Manbij?
Who is in charge of the population in Manbij?
- That would be the Manbij Military Council
is in charge of maintaining the security there.
- Can you just describe its composition, for instance?
Who is manning this council?
- You know what?
I think I'd have to owe you the answer on that,
with the details.
- Kevin Baron, Defense One.
- JD, how are you?
I'm going to have fun and ask you about Trump,
actually, about the transition.
With the presidential transition, has there been any request
from the Iraqi government to meet with US commanders
to go over any kind of what comes next or concerns
about the incoming administration or questions?
Has anything like that happened with
the Combined Joint Task Force, Commander Townsend?
- I'm not aware of any such request.
Indeed, what I've seen is that everyone
has remained focused on the task at hand, which is
a very difficult, difficult fight to liberate Mosul.
The Iraqis have stayed on that.
It's the appropriate thing to stay on
because it's a very tough fight
and it's going to take some time for us to get through that.
- [Kevin] Alright, thanks.
I'm sure you look forward to your first visit
from the incoming commander in chief.
Good luck.
- Alright, I think we're out of time.
Colonel Dorrian, we thank you for joining us
and look forward to seeing you again soon.
- Alright, thanks, Jeff.