Top US general on an unannounced visit to Syria

Mark Milley, Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited a US military base in northeastern Syria on Saturday, March 4. The visit came as a surprise to many.
Milley got an idea of the ongoing fight against the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) on the ground and supervised the security precautions of the US troops, deployed in the region.
The USA has been present in the country with its troops for eight years now. Most recently, four US soldiers were wounded in a joint operation with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against IS sleeper cells in February. In February, an Iranian drone was shot down over north-eastern Syria, which according to US statements was spying on a military base.
Asked by accompanying journalists if the mission to Syria was worth the risk, the US general said, referring to the security of the US and its allies: ‘If you think it’s important, then the answer is ‘ Yes’.”
He further stated: “I think that defeating ISIS once and for all and continuing to support our friends and partners in the region are important tasks and should be fulfilled”. Milley also told reporters in attendance that US soldiers in the country and their SDF partners were making progress to finally defeat ISIS.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State remains active in Syria and Iraq with hundreds of fighters. Thousands of IS fighters and family members are imprisoned in northern and eastern Syria, where amid repeated attempts to break out or free them. The IS repeatedly carried out terrorist attacks, most recently in February in Syria, when a unit of the terrorist organization murdered more than 50 people while searching for truffles.