Ashton Carter said on Tuesday that the U.S. would ramp up attacks, with additional air strikes and even direct action on the ground.
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Last week, USA forces helped raid a prison in Iraq, rescuing dozens of ISIS hostages.
Carter said the military campaign was evolving as the USA military sought to reinforce groundefforts and US forces aimed to intensify pressure on IS strongholds in Raqqa in Syria and Ramadi in Iraq.
He also expects the air campaign to intensify, with more aircraft and at a higher pace.
U.S. led coalition forces began air strikes to destroy ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria.
McCain raised concerns about how the USA planned to protect US-backed opposition rebels in Syria from airstrikes being carried out by Russian Federation in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Still, Warren was clear that USA troops were in combat and in harm’s way in Iraq and in flying missions over Syria.
“As we see more progress toward assembling capable and motivated Iraqi forces under Baghdad’s control and including Sunni elements, we are willing to continue providing more enabling capabilities and fire support to help our Iraqi partners succeed”, he said.
Al-Thaer and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said the three were civilians but that their identities remain unknown.
But several GOP senators blasted what they heard from Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford, who also testified Tuesday.
The final “R” stands for more raids, the most aggressive action that the USA has taken against ISIS. “We have enough soldiers on the ground”, he said. “I promise you they have”.
He said he was disappointed that the USA effort to form new moderate Syrian rebel forces to fight ISIS had failed. USA state department spokesman John Kirby said it was unclear if Iran’s leaders would attend the talks in Vienna.
The administration appears to be moving in the direction of engaging more directly with ground forces in Iraq and Syria, said William McRaven, a retired admiral and former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.
In an attempt to invigorate its efforts to defeat the Islamic State, the United States is now training and equipping Syrian forces that are already fighting the militant movement rather than attempting to form new groups.
“They’re probably going to find in the very near future – since they’re not going to be able to resolve this militarily – that they want to start to think about a political resolution, and that’s why it’s important for them to seriously consider getting involved in this conversation that the secretary’s trying to set up”.
Moscow’s move to mount strikes against ISIL in Syria has put the USA and Russian Federation at odds.
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“If anyone thought that there our pilots dropping bombs both in Iraq and Syria for the a year ago are not in harm’s way, they’re not paying attention”, he said.
