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Obama Sends Special Operations Forces to Help Fight ISIS in Syria Obama Sends Special Operations Forces to Help Fight ISIS in Syria
(about 4 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Friday that he had ordered several dozen Special Operations troops into Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria to assist local fighters battling the Islamic State, authorizing the first open-ended mission by American ground forces into the country. WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Friday that he had ordered several dozen Special Operations troops into Syria for the first open-ended mission by United States ground forces in that country, deepening American involvement in a war he has tried to avoid for more than four years.
While the deployment was small in scale, it was large in import for a president who until now had refused to send American ground troops for any sustained operations into a country devastated by more than four years of civil war. But with the fight against the Islamic State stalled, Mr. Obama concluded that a change was needed. While the deployment was small in scale, it was large in importance for a president who had refused to commit American ground forces inside Syria beyond quick raids. White House officials said the troops would advise local forces fighting the Islamic State and not play a direct combat role, but they left open the possibility of sending more in the future.
The White House said the troops would number “fewer than 50” and insisted that they would only train and advise the local forces, not play a direct combat role against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. But administration officials acknowledged that Americans operating closer to the front lines could find themselves in firefights, and they left open the possibility of sending more such Special Operations troops into Syria in the future. The escalation came just weeks after Russia inserted itself into the multisided civil war to support President Bashar al-Assad, bombing opposition forces, including some supported by the United States. Although not characterized as a response, the dispatch of American troops further complicates a kaleidoscopic battlefield with varied forces and sometimes murky allegiances.
“The responsibility that they have is not to lead the charge to take a hill, but rather to offer advice and assistance to those local forces about the best way they can organize their efforts to take the fight to ISIL or to take the hill inside of Syria,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. “That is the role that they will be playing. It still means that they’re in a dangerous situation. It still means that they will have all of the equipment that they need to protect themselves if necessary.” The move was meant to bolster diplomatic efforts by Secretary of State John Kerry, who on Friday reached an agreement in Vienna with countries with opposing stakes to explore “a nationwide cease-fire” and ask the United Nations to oversee the revision of the Syrian Constitution and then new elections. The accord represented the first time all the major outside participants had agreed on the start of a political process to bring the war to an end.
But Mr. Earnest insisted that this was not mission creep. “The mission hasn’t changed,” he said. But a truce remained elusive and the president’s military move was the latest incremental step into the expanding conflict in Syria and next-door Iraq. Once intent on just using American airpower to help local forces on the ground, Mr. Obama has now sent 3,500 American troops to Iraq. An American soldier was killed in a commando raid last week, the first such casualty since the fight against the Islamic State began last year.
The deployment came just weeks after Russia had inserted itself into the multisided civil war to support President Bashar al-Assad, bombing opposition forces, including some supported by the United States. The White House on Friday did not characterize the president’s decision as a response, but it further complicates a kaleidoscopic battlefield with varied forces and sometimes murky allegiances. The troops heading to Syria will number “fewer than 50,” the White House said, but Pentagon officials said even those numbers would be useful in coordinating efforts with Kurdish forces. Republicans argued it was too little and too late to make a meaningful difference, while some Democrats said it pushed the United States further down a slippery slope into a hopeless war.
Some security experts said the Special Forces would be useful in helping to better coordinate efforts by Kurdish forces, but the president’s decision quickly drew criticism from other vantage points. Republicans argued that the deployment was too little and too late to make a meaningful difference, while some Democrats said it showed that the United States was heading down a slippery slope toward greater involvement in a fratricidal war. The White House insisted this was not a case of mission creep. “The mission has not changed,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. “These forces,” he added, “do not have a combat mission.”
The deployment again raised the question of the president’s legal authority to order such a mission. While Iraq’s government has invited American forces into their country, Syria’s government has not. Mr. Obama has demanded, without success, that Mr. Assad step down from waging war against his own civilians. But the White House said Mr. Obama had the power under 2001 legislation passed by Congress to authorize war against Al Qaeda and its affiliates and that he was acting in defense of an ally, Iraq, which the Islamic State has attacked from Syrian territory. “The responsibility that they have is not to lead the charge to take a hill, but rather to offer advice and assistance to those local forces about the best way they can organize their efforts to take the fight to ISIL or to take the hill inside of Syria,” he said.
Mr. Obama, citing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started under his predecessor, President George W. Bush, has long resisted being drawn into ground combat in Syria or back into ground combat in Iraq. But since Mr. Obama’s initial deployments of several hundred troops to Iraq to help local forces, the number has grown to about 3,500, and the roles have grown as well. An American soldier died last week in a joint commando raid to free prisoners held by the Islamic State. American commandos have also mounted raids into Syria for quick strikes. But the definition of combat has shifted since the United States last year began taking on the Islamic State, also called ISIS or ISIL. In May, Delta Force commandos entered Syria aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Ospreys and killed an Islamic State leader and about a dozen militant fighters. The soldier killed last week was part of a force accompanying Kurdish commandos on a raid to free prisoners held by the Islamic State.
The team now being sent into Syria will aid local forces with smoother and quicker access to equipment and logistical help, according to American officials, who discussed delicate details on the condition of anonymity. In addition, Mr. Obama authorized deploying A-10 Warthog planes and F-15 fighter jets to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey and instructed his advisers to consult with the Iraqi government about establishing a Special Operations task force to further efforts to target Islamic State leaders there. He also ordered more military assistance to Jordan and Lebanon. In addition to the Special Operations deployment, Mr. Obama authorized deploying A-10 and F-15 warplanes to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. The A-10s are capable of providing close in-air support to fighters on the ground. The F-15s can carry out a range of air-to-ground combat missions.
But administration officials emphasized that Mr. Obama saw the military efforts as supporting Secretary of State John Kerry’s push for a diplomatic and political settlement to the Syrian war, with talks underway in Vienna. Mr. Obama, who spoke with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq on Friday, instructed advisers to consult the Baghdad government about establishing a Special Operations task force to further efforts to target Islamic State leaders there. He also ordered more military assistance to Jordan and Lebanon.
The Pentagon wants to build a firewall behind forces allied with the United States — both the Kurds and the Syrian-Arab coalition backed by Mr. Obama — to allow these fighters to hold what territory they have captured. Part of the way to do that, one Defense Department official said, is to ensure that equipment is delivered and that subsequent supplies will reach these forces quickly. The Pentagon wants to build a firewall behind forces allied with the United States — both the Kurds and the Syrian-Arab coalition backed by Mr. Obama — to allow these fighters to hold territory they have captured. Part of the way to do that, one Defense Department official said, is to ensure that equipment is delivered and that subsequent supplies will reach these forces quickly.
“We want a direct line to these forces,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It’s imperative that they can get what they need when they need it.” The shift represents “a kind of Goldilocks policy — not too hot and not too cold,” said Aaron David Miller, a vice president with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “Keep your eye on ISIS, keep your forces out of Russia’s way and yet enhance your profile after Moscow has raised theirs.”
While Mr. Obama and his administration have maintained publicly that they are not putting American combat boots on the ground in Iraq or Syria, the definition of combat has changed several times since the United States began airstrikes against the Islamic State in August 2014. At the moment, officials said there was no plan to send the American troops beyond a makeshift opposition group headquarters in northern Syria. They will not patrol or travel with opposition groups. Officials, though, also said that could change as the situation warrants. And they said no decision has been made on sending additional Apache helicopters to Iraq.
In May, Delta Force commandos entered Syria aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Ospreys and killed an Islamic State leader and about a dozen militant fighters. They also captured the leader’s wife and freed an 18-year-old Yazidi woman who Pentagon officials said had been held as a slave. The move could potentially put the American troops in the cross hairs of Russia, which last month began airstrikes on antigovernment forces in Syria. A senior Pentagon official said the United States had not informed Moscow about where the American forces will be. “The area where we are planning to place these special operators is not an area where they have struck or where they would need to strike,” the official said. “It’s not ISIL or regime-controlled.”
In the summer of 2014, two dozen Delta Force commandos raided an oil refinery in the northern part of Syria as part of an effort to free James Foley, an American journalist, but found after a firefight that he and other hostages were not there. Mr. Foley was later beheaded by the Islamic State. But given that most Russian airstrikes have been against opposition groups that are not part of the Islamic State, there is no guarantee that Moscow may not hit groups in which the American forces are embedded. That said, Russia has “significant visibility” over what happens in Syria, the official said, adding that if it becomes necessary to keep its troops safe the United States will communicate with Moscow.
Mr. Earnest said that while the new deployment was small in size, it could have disproportionate benefit. “I certainly wouldn’t underestimate the capability and capacity of our U.S. Special Operations forces to be an important force multiplier,” he said. “The president does expect that they can have an impact in intensifying our strategy for building local forces inside Syria for taking the fight to ISIL in their own territory.” But Mr. Miller and other foreign policy specialists warned that the move risked alienating Turkey since it will bring American forces into an even closer alliance with northern Syria’s Kurdish fighters, including Kurdish People’s Protection Units, which have come under attack from Turkey in recent days.
Mr. Obama spoke by telephone on Friday with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq to discuss the campaign against the Islamic State and to encourage Iraqi efforts to retake the city of Ramadi. Derek Chollet, a former assistant defense secretary under Mr. Obama, said the administration would seek to calm Turkish concern by saying the move would help protect its interests. “After all, the Turks have wanted U.S. Special Forces on the ground in Syria for years,” he said.
The president’s decision drew a scornful response from some prominent Democrats. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, an Obama ally who served as the party’s chairman, quickly issued a statement noting that a year ago Mr. Obama had “stated that American combat troops would not be returning to the fight in Iraq,” but that now there were more than 3,500 American troops in Iraq. The diplomatic progress reported in Vienna came after seven hours of heated negotiations, punctuated by sharp exchanges between the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia. But it amounted to more of an aspiration than a settlement.
Mr. Kaine said he supported Mr. Obama’s diplomatic efforts in Vienna to find a solution to the Syrian war, but noted “the incongruity to pursuing political discussions while at the same time ramping up our U.S. military presence in Syria to address half the problem — ISIL, but not Assad.” Mr. Kerry and the other diplomats set no deadline for either the cease-fire or a new constitution and election that would follow, and it remained unclear whether Mr. Assad, who was not invited, or the rebels seeking to overthrow him will agree. But the diplomats will meet again in two weeks to expand on the basic principles issued on Friday night, including a commitment to keep Syria together as a single nation.
While calling on Congress to take up the question of authorizing the war, Mr. Kaine said, “It is also time for the administration to propose a unified strategy to address the intertwined challenges posed by ISIL and President Assad.” Mr. Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, the foreign minister, announced the results together, but they remained deeply divided on whether Mr. Assad must step down as part of any final resolution, as the United States and its European and Persian Gulf allies have demanded and Russia and Iran have resisted.
Republicans called the latest move insufficient given Russia’s intervention in Syria and the failure to change the overall dynamics in the years leading up to it. “We have no agreement on the destiny of Assad,” Mr. Lavrov told reporters as he sat next to Mr. Kerry. “Russia believes that it is up to Syrian people to decide within the framework of the political process.”
“Putting small numbers of troops in Syria is yet another tactical move in the absence of a comprehensive strategy for Iraq, Syria and the broader Middle East that does nothing more than create the appearance of serious action,” said Representative Kevin McCarthy, the Republican majority leader from California. Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said Mr. Assad’s eventual departure remained a necessity. “As far as we are concerned, we think that Bashar al-Assad has no place in the future of Syria,” he said.
Both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lavrov said the cease-fire would not apply to the conflict with Islamic State forces. Mr. Lavrov declined to criticize, at least publicly, the American decision to send Special Operations forces to northern Syria. Mr. Kerry told reporters the timing of the announcement was “a coincidence” and that he was not aware a decision had been made until earlier Friday.
The two men said they discussed coordination of their attacks beyond the narrow conversations about avoiding an accidental conflict. “We have some ideas which we discussed today that I am taking back to Washington,” Mr. Kerry said.
Still, the tensions in Vienna emphasized how difficult it could be to reach a common understanding. The most heated conversations took place between Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and his Saudi counterpart, Adel al-Jubeir. Until a few days ago, the Saudis refused to sit in the same room with the Iranians and they spent much of the meeting “voicing grievances and accusations,” said one official.