Republicans harshly criticized the Obama administration’s strategy in Syria and Iraq, where Isis militants have captured large swaths of territory and have largely fought the US-led coalition to a stalemate.
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After it was over, the US Defense Secretary said the military expects “more raids of this kind”.
The new policy would mean additional air strikes and even “direct action” on the ground, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Tuesday, outlining a strategy shift that still needed approval from the president.
The US has already carried out a few special operations raids in Syria. The country is now bombing ISIS bases in Syria, and allowing the Syrian forces to make forces under cover.
“Our Title 10 forces, we have an obligation to protect”, Carter said.
Mr Carter said the United States would be willing to provide more firepower if the Iraqi government can create a motivated force that includes ethnic Sunnis.
“While our mission in Iraq is to train, advise, and assist our Iraqi partners, in situations such as that operation – where we have actionable intelligence and a capable partner force – we want to support our partners”, he said.
The newly recommended Special Operations forces in Syria would reportedly work with moderate Syrian rebels and Kurdish groups like the YPG to help retake Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the Islamic State, backed by American air power.
Then, the United States will “give a few equipment, see how they perform; give them a few more equipment, see how they perform”, he said on Tuesday.
This joint US-Kurdish raid brought forth a furious response from Turkey.
“We have certainly indicated that we intend to prosecute our counter-ISIL campaign unchanged”.
Carter and Dunford both repeatedly said that the U.S. was supporting moderate forces in Syria in the fight against the Islamic State, but not those fighting against Assad.
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More than 250,000 people have been killed since Syria’s brutal conflict broke out in March 2011, sparked by a bloody crackdown on protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. “They’re going to enhance the very extremism that they say they fear and they have ever reason to fear, because now ISIL and other groups, including Syrian opposition groups of all stripes, are turned against Russian Federation”, Carter said in his appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
