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Obama expected to deploy US forces to 'assist' in Syria Obama expected to deploy US forces to 'assist' in Syria
(34 minutes later)
The Obama administration is expected to announce on Friday a decision to deploy a small number of special operations forces in an advisory role to Syria, US administration and congressional sources said. Barack Obama has ordered up to 50 special operations troops to northern Syria, a senior administration official told the Guardian on Friday, in an apparent breach of his promise not to put US “boots on the ground” to fight Islamic State militants in the country.
The United States will send 20 to 30 special operations forces to Syria to serve as military advisers in the fight against Islamic State, a US official said. The Pentagon has also been “consulting” with Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi to establish a special operations task force, with an unspecified number of US forces aiming “to further enhance [US] ability to target Isil leaders and networks” across the Syria border in Iraq.
The additional US troops will operate in a limited “advise and assist” capacity, without changing Barack Obama’s overall mission to combat the militant group, a separate US official said. The forces will be supported by an additional deployment of A-10 “Warthog” attack aircraft and F-15 jets to Nato’s Incirlik base in Turkey, in a what amounts to a major escalation of US forces in the region.
The sources said the move reflected a wider strategy of strengthening moderate rebels in Syria even as Washington intensifies its efforts to find a diplomatic solution to end to the four-and-a-half year Syrian civil war. Administration sources also told the Guardian that the US would be enhancing military assistance to Jordan and Lebanon to help their governments fight Isis, or Isil as the US government calls the group.
A White House spokesman told the Guardian: “We have no intention of changing our broader counter-Isil mission to train, advise and assist local partners in the fight to degrade and destroy Isil. And we have no intention of engaging in long-term, large-scale combat operations the likes of which we previously saw in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the White House insists that its overall strategy to combat Isis remains the same and says the special forces troops will be helping coordinate local ground forces and other non-specified “coalition efforts” to counter Isis rather than engaging in major ground operations.
“At the same time, though, we’ve also said our ongoing process includes intensifying efforts that are successful.” “Our core objective of degrading and destroying Isil has not changed,” said the senior administration official. “We have always been clear that this would be a multi-year campaign, and that continues to be the case.”
More details soon ... The administration is expected to announce the move on Friday, according to multiple media reports citing unnamed officials at the White House and in Congress.
US secretary of state John Kerry was in Vienna on Friday for talks with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Iran and elsewhere, with Syria on the agenda.
The US military has conducted ground missions inside Syria, such as one in May in which special forces killed an Islamic State commander in a raid described by the Pentagon as taking place in the east of the country.
Thousands of US forces are deployed in Iraq in what the White House has described as an training and advisory role. The US troops lead and assist local fighters and help coordinate air strikes against enemy positions. The Pentagon says the troops have rarely, if ever, participated directly in combat against Isis fighters.
Last week a US soldier participating in a raid on a compound near the city of Kirkuk, Iraq, to free dozens of Iraqi prisoners from captivity was killed.
Senators reacted with disbelief last month at testimony by General Lloyd Austin, commander of US Central Command, that a $500m effort to train Syrian forces against the Islamic State has resulted in only a handful of fighters actively battling the jihadi army.
“We’re talking four or five,” Austin said.
The US move follows the deployment to Syria of Russian troops and weaponry earlier this month.
Obama announced two weeks ago that he would leave 5,500 US forces in Afghanistan beyond his departure from office in January 2017, in a break with longstanding promises to end US military involvement in the country.