USCENTCOM said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that Kurilla visited on Feb. 28 and 29 military facilities in Syria, including the al-Tanf Garrison, the Landing Zone in the town of Rmelan, MSS Euphrates, and MSS Green Village “to assess continued improvements in force protection, meet with local leaders, and gain a firsthand understanding of the progress made in the Defeat-ISIS Campaign.”
Kurilla also visited Hawl and Roj camps and met with administrators and dozens of residents there to discuss repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration of both Islamic State (ISIS) detainees and people affected by the conflict.
More than 45,000 IDPs are present in both Roj and Hawl, and over 9,000 ISIS detainees are in Syria, according to the statement.
Kurilla travelled to Syria as part of a visit to countries in the Middle East including Egypt, Jordan and Israel that extended from Feb. 26 to Mar. 2, to gain an understanding of the security and humanitarian situation in what the statement described as “the CENTCOM region.”
Kurilla pointed out this visit gives him “a deeper understanding of the security challenges and opportunities as well as the unique perspectives that cannot be attained over the phone or through a video teleconference.”
“These are challenging times in the CENTCOM region, and we rely on the professionalism, commitment and competence of our Service-members as well as the strength of our relationships with our partners to solve them,” Kurilla said.