Rep. Zeldin on Suicide Attack on U.S.-Led Coalition in Syria

WASHINGTON - Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1), member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued the following statement following a suicide attack on a U.S.-led coalition on a patrol in Manbij, Syria; ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack:

“Americans woke up this morning deeply saddened to learn the tragic news that U.S. military personnel were killed and wounded in a suicide attack in Manbij, Syria, while on  patrol leading coalition forces. These service members and their families sacrificed everything as part of the world’s greatest military power in defense of the greatest nation in the world. We must not only pray for these heroes, but recommit to enacting the most effective and resilient policy to ensure their lives were not lost in vain. While ISIS has been nearly wiped off of the map in Iraq and Syria, they were not entirely eliminated. Candidly, individuals may potentially identify themselves as ISIS fighters for not only years, but decades to come. The resolve of the United States and other countries around the world must never waver.

“We must ensure that any removal of troops from Syria is done in a manner that deliberately required conditions and objectives to be adequately met. It’s vital that any vacuum ever created by the departure of American leadership on the ground does not ever get filled by aggressors and bad actors who cause an even larger national security threat than before that vacuum was first created. In Syria, for example, we don’t want to see Turkey come in and wipe out the Kurds; nor do we want to see ISIS re-establishing a caliphate. American troops have done an exceptional job of almost completely wiping out ISIS on the ground, and we must ensure we hold that progress.”