ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT: Gen. Martin Dempsey said on Sunday that once he determines the Isil militants in Iraq have become a direct threat to the US homeland, he will recommend the US military move directly against the group in Syria.
But the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that right now, he still believes the insurgent group is still more a regional threat and is not plotting or planning attacks against either the US or Europe.
Speaking on a military plane en route to Afghanistan, Dempsey provided more detail into his thinking about the Islamic militants who have stormed across Iraq, operating out of safe havens in Syria.
So far, the Obama administration has restricted its military action against the militants to specific operations within Iraq, but concerns have increased as the Isil group extended its reach, taking control of a swathe of land stretching from Syria across the border and deep into western and northern Iraq.
Dempsey also told reporters travelling with him that he believes that key allies in the region — including Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia — will join the US in quashing the Isil group.
Dempsey said that so far, there is no sign that the Islamic State [of Iraq and the Levant] militants are engaged in “active plotting against the homeland, so it’s different than that which we see in Yemen.”
“I can tell you with great clarity and certainty that if that threat existed inside of Syria that it would certainly be my strong recommendation that we would deal with it,” said Dempsey. “I have every confidence that the president of the United States would deal with it.”
