US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis faces questions from allies on IS strategy

HELSINKI: As the Islamic State group loses its remaining strongholds in Iraq and Syria, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis is facing a growing chorus of questions from NATO allies and partners about what the next steps will be in the region to preserve peace and ensure the militants don’t rise again.

Heading into a week of meetings with Nordic countries and allies across Europe, Mattis must begin to articulate what has been a murky American policy on how the future of Syria unfolds.

Speaking to reporters traveling with him to Finland, Mattis said the main question from US allies is: what comes next? And he said the key is to get the peace process on track.

“We’re trying to get this into the diplomatic mode so we can get things sorted out,” said Mattis, who will meet with NATO defence ministers later this week. “and make certain (that) minorities -- whoever they are -- are not just subject to more of what we’ve seen” under Syrian President Bashar Assad until now.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in late October repeated Washington’s call for Assad to surrender control, looking past recent battlefield gains by his Russian-backed forces to insist that “the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end.”

Tillerson made the comments after meeting with the UN’S envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who later announced plans to resume Un-mediated peace talks Nov. 28. It will be the eighth such round under his mediation in Geneva since early 2016.

Mattis said intelligence assessments two to three months ago made it clear that the Islamic State group was “going down.” He said information based on the number of IS individuals taken prisoner and the number of fighters who were getting wounded or were deserting the group made it clear that “the whole bottom was dropping out.”

But while he said the effort now is to get the diplomatic process shifted to Geneva and the United Nations, he offered few details that suggest the effort is moving forward.

In addition to the diplomatic efforts, Mattis said the US is still working to resolve conflicts with Russia in the increasingly crowded skies over the Iraq and Syria border, where a lot of the fighting has shifted.

On Friday, Assad’s military announced the capture of the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-zour, while Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-abadi proclaimed victory in retaking the town of Qaim on the border, the militants’ last significant urban area in Iraq.

Focus has now turned to Boukamal, the last urban center for the militants in both Iraq and Syria where Syrian troops — backed by Russia and Iranian-supported militias and Us-backed Syrian Democratic Forces are vying for control of the strategic border town.