Kerry: ISIS has Committed Genocide

ISIS is responsible for genocide against Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims in Iraq and Syria, the State Department formally declared on Thursday, calling for a global response to end the terror group. “Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control … Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions,” Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday in Washington, D.C. “In what it says, what it believes, and what it does.” Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that while the US-led coalition is working to bolster Syrian Democratic Forces and Iraqi Security Forces to take on ISIS-held strongholds, it will take some time to get the forces ready and there is no schedule for the operations. In Iraq, the coalition has identified 12 Iraqi Army b?rigades, along with Peshmerga forces, and Sunni tribal groups, to help isolate and attempt to retake the city of Mosul, but the groups aren’t ready yet. In Syria, there are between 10,000-15,000 Syrian Democratic Forces, along with another 20,000-25,000 reserve forces, but those fighters won’t be ready to take on the self-proclaimed Caliphate for months. “We intend on growing their capabilities over time,” Dunford said. (See also: Breaking the Siege on Sinjar from the October 2015 issue of Air Force Magazine.)