These most recent events are a direct result of the deliberate actions we've taken since 2015 to accelerate our coalition military campaign plan that Chairman Dunford and I put together. Meanwhile in Syria, our local partners continue to converge down on Raqqa and I'm also confident that they will soon have ISIL's so-called capital isolated. As they now prepare to clear the western part of Mosul, I'm confident that ISIL's days in Mosul are numbered.

While we struck in Libya, our local partners in Iraq, with our advice and assistance, managed to secure all critical areas in eastern Mosul. So these were critically important strikes for our campaign and a clear example of our enduring commitment to destroy ISIL's cancer not only in Iraq and Syria, but everywhere it emerges.

Importantly, these strikes were directed against some of ISIL's external plotters, who were actively planning operations against our allies in Europe. Initial estimates indicate that the air strikes killed more than 80 ISIL fighters, many of whom had converged there after fleeing from local partner forces who had cleared Sirte last month with our help. Thanks for being here.Īnd I'm sorry for interrupting Peter's final briefing, but I wanted to come down here on my last day to provide an important update on what happened overnight in our campaign to deal ISIL the lasting defeat it deserves.įirst, in Libya, our Africa Command conducted air strikes against two ISIL camps south of Sirte. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER: Hello, everyone. PETER COOK: Sorry for the delay, everyone.

Hello counselor pentagon guest