Thread by @jseldin

"#ISIS remains a real & potent threat" @DeptofDefense Deputy Asst Sec. for the Middle East Dana Stroul tells @MiddleEastInst @ICSR_Centre

Says ISIS "working to infiltrate population centers" while also working in small cells in rural areas

"The #UnitedStates is committed to maintaining our force presence in #Iraq & #Syria to achieve the enduring defeat of #ISIS" per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

10,000 #ISIS fighters still being held in make-shift prisons across NE #Syria by the #SDF, per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

"No secret" ISIS wants to replicate January's attack on prison in #Hasakah, she adds

NEW: Pentagon warns against #Turkey ops in NE #Syria - It "will put at risk all of the progress" per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

"We strongly oppose any Turkish operation...ISIS is going to take advantage of that campaign"

NEW: Pentagon funding new facilities for #ISIS prisoners, youth, per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

New facilities will be safer, with more resources for rehabilitation

Repeated warnings from @DeptofDefense's Stroul to #Turkey against any operation in NE #Syria, warning it would put US troops in danger, provide openings for #ISIS, crate humanitarian crises

Says US recognizes #Ankara's legitimate concerns & that US willing to work on them

New @DeptofDefense funded detention facilities in NE #Syria critical bcs #ISIS sees prison prisoners & boys at #alHol & #alRoj as the perfect population to reconstitute, per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

"Purpose built" detention facilities for #ISIS fighters in NE #Syria are a "medium term" solution, per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

Says it will take time to get them built given the location, could be slowed by renewed conflict

"The hope is that w/building more secure, more humane facilities we can enable in the medium term better security, better access" per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

But says the best solution is to reduce the #ISIS population

"There's only so many #SDF to go around" per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

Says any military operation that causes SDF to shift resources from the counter-#ISIS mission is damaging

.@DeptofDefense's Stroul also warns any op by #Turkey could serve to drive #SDF towards #Syria's Assad or even #Iran

#ISIS either relegated to remote, desert areas "or they're hiding in northwest #Syria" per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

Ability to strike #ISIS in NW #Syria reflects well on US special forces, ability to project force, per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

"We're degrading the #ISIS leadership network" per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

"We're taking out ISIS leaders who demonstrate the ability" to inspire, plan attacks, she adds

In #Syria, "We're not coordinating w/#Russia. We're deconflicting" per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

US still has about 900 troops in #Syria. .

"We are opposed to this operation" per @DeptofDefense's Stroul when asked about what happens w/US forces IF #Turkey launches a military op in NE #Syria

New US-funded prisons will be "purpose built facilities" to hold #ISIS fighters being detained in NE #Syria, per @DeptofDefense's Stroul

How many will be built, where not yet decided, per Stroul, who adds the facilities will not be to deradicalize #ISIS youth

"We've seen no meaningful change" from #Russia as far as #Moscow's operations, actions in #Syria despite the war in #Ukraine, per @DeptofDefense's Stroul