Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
promised “new approaches” to the war on Islamic State, but offered few details at a conference of 68 nations involved in the battle.
WASHINGTON — As representatives from more than 60 nations gathered here to share strategies on defeating Islamic State, U.S. helicopters ferried hundreds of Syrian fighters into a battle Wednesday in southern Syria in a major new offensive.
During the night, U.S. helicopters carried nearly 500 Syrian fighters for the first time behind the militants’ defensive lines near the Tabqa Dam, about 25 miles west of Raqqa, the militants’ self-declared capital and a crucial stronghold, according to the Pentagon.
Marines fired artillery while Apache helicopters delivered airstrikes, and Special Forces advisers worked with Syrian commanders to direct the assault, which aimed to retake the dam and a nearby airfield, Pentagon officials said.
Col. Joseph Scrocca, a U.S. spokesman based in Baghdad, said in a teleconference with Pentagon reporters that the Americans supported the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Arab and Kurdish rebel groups that operates chiefly in northern Syria.
“Our advisers are advising,” he said. “They are not fighting on the front line.”
The operation is expected to take weeks, he said. .
The offensive came as foreign ministers and other delegations from 68 nations and international organizations in the U.S.-led coalition gathered at the State Department for their first full meeting since 2014.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Trump administration views defeating Islamic State, also known as ISIS, as its “number 1 number one goal in the region.”
“Hard-fought victories in Syria and Iraq have swung the momentum in our coalition’s favor,” Tillerson said, “but we must intensify our efforts and solidify our gains in the next phase of the counter-ISIS fight,” using an acronym for Islamic State.
While his remarks were short on specifics, Tillerson offered a glimpse of a new U.S. strategy as the militants come under growing pressure.
Tillerson said the United States “will work to establish interim zones of stability, through cease-fires, to allow refugees to return home,” using language that suggests creation of no-fly zones to protect refugees in northern Syria.
The Obama administration resisted creating no-fly zones because it said it would tie up too many aircraft and other military resources. During the presidential campaign, both Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, said they favored creating such havens.
Tillerson did not say where, when or how safe havens would be created, or how they would operate. But there are patches along the Syrian border with Turkey where Turkish troops and others have enforced cease-fires.
Tillerson made clear he was not committing to an open-ended U.S. presence in Syria.
“As a coalition, we are not in the business of reconstruction or nation-building,” he said.
He urged the other nations to contribute more to prevent the resurgence of Islamic State, and to help rebuild Syria.