"You'll see a reenergized effort,” US Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Thursday, addressing the Senate Armed Services Committee, AFP reported.
“You'll see increased operations on the Iraqi side of the border and the French just reinforced us in Syria with special forces here in the last two weeks. This is an ongoing fight right now," he said, adding that the US is “not withdrawing.”
France is a member of the international anti-ISIS coalition and has had forces on the ground in northern Syria.
In a meeting last month with a Kurdish delegation from Rojava, French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly said he was ready to send forces to Manbij to reinforce the American post in the city and block any possible Turkish offensive.
Turkey said that such a move would be an “invasion.”
Coalition operations against ISIS in Deir ez-Zor province have resumed with the return of Kurdish forces to the battlefield after a deployment to Afrin to help defend the canton from Turkey’s Olive Branch offensive.
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