(VOVworld) – Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives assailed special envoy to Iraq Brett McGurk on Wednesday for a slow and inadequate response to the threat posed by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, Representative Ed Royce, said that after four months of the US-led air campaign in Iraq and in Syria, ISIS still controls essentially the same amount of territory that it did in the summer. He expressed doubts about a US plan to train up the moderate US-backed opposition, saying these Syrian groups are hampered by dire ammunition shortages. Republican representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida said the White House has not done all it can to wipe out IS and defeat Al-Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda branch in Syria.

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Brett McGurk, deputy special presidential envoy to the coalition to counter IS, defended the administration's response and outlined the gains made against the militants in both nations. "Efforts to halt ISIL's advance have been successful, but the rollback phase will be longer, and progress is likely to be uneven," McGurk said.