THE TOPLINE: The Pentagon’s top leaders testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday, where members of the Senate Armed Services Committee grilled them on ISIS, Russia and Iran.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria targeted an Iraqi military base where hundreds of U.S. troops are stationed with a chemical weapon.
“We assess it to be a sulfur-mustard blister agent,” Dunford said. “It wasn’t particularly effective but it was a concerning development.”
Dunford also said Russia is responsible for the bombing of a United Nations humanitarian convoy earlier this week in Syria.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that Russians are responsible. We just don’t know who dropped the bombs,” he said.
However, he added there were Syrian regime aircraft in the area. He also said that if the U.S. military were to begin cooperating with Russia in Syria as an agreement calls for, it would not be sharing intelligence.
“We don’t have any intention of intelligence sharing with the Russians. … The U.S. military role will not include sharing intel with the Russians.”
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