U.S. War Footprint Grows in Middle East, With No Endgame in Sight
It also launched frequent airstrikes to kill individual jihadists or to destroy their facilities
and sent thousands of American troops back to Iraq to train and advise Iraqi forces, and also provide firepower, so they could "degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State.
But the changes have also been notable in Yemen, Syria
and Iraq, all home to overlapping conflicts in failed states where jihadist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have taken advantage of the chaos to step up operations.
Fahad Nazer said that It understands that it is uniquely positioned to play a unique role in bringing some stability to the region,
and I think there is a meeting of the minds between the Saudi leadership and the Trump administration,
Robert Malley, a former senior official in the Obama administration
and now vice president for policy at the International Crisis Group, said the uptick in military involvement since Mr. Trump took office did not appear to have been accompanied by increased planning for the day after potential military victories.
He was speaking specifically about discussions that he said began in November about how the fights in Syria
and Iraq against the Islamic State were reaching critical phases in Mosul and Raqqa.
On display are some of the first indications of how complicated military operations are continuing under a president who has vowed to make the military "fight to win." In an interview on Wednesday, Gen. Joseph
L. Votel, the commander of United States Central Command, said the new procedures made it easier for commanders in the field to call in airstrikes without waiting for permission from more senior officers.