The US announced Friday that Central Command forces killed a
top ISIS leader in an air strike in Syria.
CEO confirmed another ISIS fighter died too. This comes
after the Pentagon said a round of air strikes earlier
this week killed about a dozen ISIS fighters. ISIS
continues to maintain or to pose. Ahead of Friday's
announcement, Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said
the US doubled the number of its troops in Syria
, about 2000, mostly from the army. All
of those forces focused on the defeat ISIS mission,
Reder said these service members were there before the fall
of Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship. And now for the first
time since the government collapsed, top US diplomats are
on the ground in Syria too. While thousands of
Syrians rallied Friday in support of the new government,
the American diplomats met with incoming officials to make sure
they protect minorities and reject terrorism. They stress the
immense importance of finding missing US citizens, including Austin
. The American journalist disappeared in Syria in 2012.
White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it remains one
of the president's top priorities to get him home.
That is something that certainly we want to see.
In Washington, I'm Jesse Chenore.