A U.S. general said Tuesday that coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were forcing the terror group to move weapons and fighters from Iraq back into Syria.

"The Coalition exists to counter Daesh in Iraq [and] Syria. Those operations [conducted] in Syria enable Iraqi Security Forces, as they force Daesh to reallocate their resources to the Syrian theater," said Brig. Gen. Thomas Weidley, chief of staff for the military task force against ISIS, using a derogatory Arabic name for the group.

The comments were made in an official Pentagon news report Tuesday, and echo those made by Canadian Foreign Minister Rob Nicholson last month, who said ISIS was moving back into Syria -- where coalition airstrikes have been less frequent and they would be safer.

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“We have seen, as ISIL has been degraded within Iraq, that they have been moving heavy equipment and personnel into Syria, and they cannot or should not be given a free ride just because we disagree with the government in Syria,” Nicholson said on March 30, using a different name for ISIS.

Last month, Canada's parliament voted to expand airstrikes from Iraq into Syria, becoming the first NATO member in the anti-ISIS coalition other than the U.S. to do so.

Pentagon officials say the campaign is unfolding as expected, and that while ISIS is not fully withdrawing into Syria, the coalition airstrikes in Iraq are having an impact.

"We are where we thought we would be at about this point in the execution of the military campaign to degrade, dismantle and ultimately defeat ISIL," said U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. Pat Ryder last week.

The Pentagon also said last week that Iraqi Security Forces have regained about 25 to 30 percent of territory from ISIS in Iraq, but acknowledged that the group has gained some territory in Syria.

And although the U.S.-led coalition has struck targets both in Iraq and Syria since August, U.S. military officials have long said the strategy was focused on defeating ISIS in Iraq first.

The coalition has launched more than 3,200 airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria, the official report said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi complained last week that the airstrikes against ISIS targets are coming too slowly after being requested by the Iraqi government.

Weidley defended the approval process.

"Our deliberate targeting process involves many levels of review," he said.

"We look at those targets for hours and hours to understand the pattern of life, and all airstrikes in Iraq are approved by the Ministry of Defense," Weidley added.

"It's a process that's resulted in airstrike success across Iraq and Syria."

-- Updated on April 22 at 8:43 a.m.