"If we don’t first get things under control in Iraq, where there is a government that we can work with with some reliable security forces that are available, if we don’t get things right there first before expanding our efforts to Syria, then we risk making matters worse in both countries," General Austin told the House Armed Services Committee.
Austin asserted that the US-led efforts against the Islamic State are "making progress," and allies are on course to be where military leaders thought they would be in the execution of the military plan.
The United States has been conducting military operations against the ISIL in Iraq and Syria for the past seven months. The US program to train and equip moderate rebels in Syria will begin later in March, according to the Pentagon.
