On October 27, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that the Pentagon is contemplating direct action on the ground in both Iraq and Syria, in an effort to combat the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group. (Sputnik, October 27, 2015).
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Experts say Obama requested the new strategy out of concern that the battle in Iraq and Syria is largely stalemated and in need of new ideas.
It is believed a number of U.S. special operation troops have already been operating in the country alongside British Special Forces in specific missions.
Syria’s Western-backed opposition and the US’s Gulf Arab allies have long opposed Iran’s role in the Syrian war.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter told lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee that military officials are considering a strategy of “3 Rs” focusing on Raqqa, Ramadi and raids in their bid to put the Islamist group on the back foot.
Carter’s comments come days after the first U.S. combat death in the war against IS. The most likely candidates for this would be the Kurds in sort of northeast Syria, it’s called the YPG, and also the southern front around the border with Jordan, though the reality is they’re doing more fighting with Assad than they are with ISIS.
The praise lavished on Kurdish militias in the Senate chamber only underscored the enormous crisis and deep contradictions plaguing the United States intervention in the region.
When the USA campaign against IS began in Syria just over a year ago, numerous initial air strikes focused on oil infrastructure operated by IS.
Carter also noted that Iraq should do more “in the direction of multi-sectarian governance and defense leadership” as the USA continues to train and equip Sunni tribes to step up against the terror group.
Pentagon has radically altered its ground strategy against ISIS.
Commanders in Kurdistan tell CBS News the Iraqi army simply can’t do it alone – but even with the backing of American firepower and intelligence, there is another overwhelming obstacle.
The United States could soon be back in combat in Iraq. “There will be conditioned by a military situation on the ground there”, he said. According Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiyah, Qatar could intervene military in response to Russia’s intervention in support of the government of Bashar Al Assad. Faced with the failure of its Middle East policy, Washington is responding with yet another military escalation.
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That signals a fundamental change in what has been until now a war of attrition, with air strikes to kill enemy fighters and destroy their equipment without dislodging them from key cities like Ramadi and Mosul in Iraq and Raqaa in Syria, where the headquarters for ISIS is located.
