US commander: ‘Tens of thousands’ of ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq
|Traveling with Votel (CNN)The top US commander in the war against ISIS aligned himself Sunday with the US intelligence community assessment that there are “tens of thousands” of ISIS fighters spread across Syria and Iraq.
“They are dispersed and disaggregated, but there is leadership, there are fighters there, there are facilitators there,” Gen. Joseph Votel told reporters traveling with him to the Middle East for his farewell tour.
Votel’s comments underscore the testimony from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats before Congress, an assessment President Donald Trump has publicly disagreed with.