The officer nominated to lead US troops in the Middle East has signaled his intention for a more aggressive fight against Islamic State, telling lawmakers that he supports a revised plan to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels who are fighting the militant group.
Gen Joseph Votel, the current commander of US Special Operations Command and Barack Obama’s choice to lead US Central Command, told the Senate armed services committee on Wednesday he has “concerns” about progress against Isis in Syria. Throughout his confirmation hearing, Votel indicated he would take a more aggressive approach to the Middle East and South Asia than his cautious predecessor, Gen Lloyd Austin.
Votel said he would conduct a strategy review on Syria, to see if the US had “the coherence that is required, that we have the resources we need … and that we have the authorities”, suggesting an increase of troops or equipment could be a feature of his almost certain tenure at Central Command.
Votel said that ousting Isis from the Iraqi city of Mosul and its Syrian capital of Raqqa “will take additional resources”. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has set the recapture of both cities as a critical goal for the war in 2016, a mission met with much skepticism surrounding its feasibility.
Votel testified in a different hearing on Tuesday that there have yet to be plans developed to take away Isis’s Syrian capital of Raqqa.
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