Carter’s statements and the Post revelations constitute an unambiguous repudiation of the promises of the Obama administration that United States troops would not participate in ground combat as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the renewed U.S. military intervention in Iraq authorized by the White House in June 2014.
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The changes to the Obama administration’s anti-ISIS strategy are intended be more militarily aggressive in order to break the stalemate that forces fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq have reached, according to Business Insider.
Carter said: “If done in concert as we intend, all these actions on the ground and from the air should help shrink IS territory into a smaller and smaller area and create new opportunities for targeting IS – ultimately denying this evil movement any safe haven in its supposed heartland”.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, meanwhile, indicated that in his mind,”Russia and Iran will have more influence on who the next leader or the leadership of Syria is going to be than we will”.
Carter implied that the United States will not immediately seek to establish a no-fly zone in Syria, as demanded by many within the military/intelligence and political establishment, but confirmed that such a move was under consideration and, if implemented, would require a few type of military occupation on the ground.
“There may be opportunities in the south as well as in the north where our European coalition partners could in fact play an important role, and I’m thinking special operations”, Allen said, adding that additional details could only be provided in a classified setting.
In Syria, the Pentagon is dropping ammunition to rebels in the north in a program that replaced a failed bid to build a rebel army to fight IS.
The Department of Defense will also step up the air campaign against the Islamic State, or ISIS, which started over a year ago, and has been criticized due to a seeming lack of “good” targets on the ground.
In Syria, that means the U.S. is providing equipment and air strikes to support a recently formed Syrian-Arab coalition that is advancing against ISIL near its capital in Raqqa.
An official in the region told Reuters that Iran had been invited to the Vienna talks by the United States and Russian Federation, and Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian would attend, while the presence of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was still under discussion.
At the same time Kerri emphasized that for destruction of terrorist group “Islamic State” it is necessary to stop war in Syria at first.
The raid successfully freed 70 Isis prisoners, with the terror group reporting they only had one hour left to live, before the US-Kurdish forces intervened.
Iran is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s closest ally.
“There will be conditioned by a military situation on the ground there”, he said.
“I think they are way beyond their legal authority right now”, fellow panel member Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Al-Monitor.
Syria’s civil war has killed more than 250,000 people since it broke out in March 2011, sparked by a bloody crackdown on protests against Assad’s rule.
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Unfortunately, dithering on tough foreign policy issues that require tough thinking and tough calls is what Team Obama seems to – sadly – do best.
