“Sending 50 American special forces into Syria in the eyes of ISIL shows that Obama is not ‘all in, ‘ it is a sign of weakness to ISIL”, Graham added. “US intervention will only lead to more war, more refugees and more death”.
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Kerry said the U.N.-led process should lead to a new constitution for Syria and internationally supervised elections, as well as an end to violence between Assad’s military and Sunni rebel groups so the world community can focus on the fight against the Islamic State.
But over the past year, the number of US troops in Iraq has expanded to about 3,300. The announcement got here two years after Obama addressed the American public and stated emphatically: “I can’t put American boots on the bottom in Syria”.
“The Turkish authorities are highly concerned about our continuous progress against ISIL terrorists, and they are trying to stop us under the pretext that we are merely fighting for the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish state on their border”.
Senator John McCain said the “limited action” was “yet another insufficient step” by a president who had no realistic and coherent strategy on Syria. Moulton also said the US must defeat IS to create stability in the Middle East.
The US military footprint in the region is growing.
In fact, if the IS was under far more serious pressure on the ground on its over-extended perimeter from determined local forces, the airstrikes could have been part of a decisive one-two punch, he said.
“So given all those variables, I just don’t see that we’re going to accomplish much, other than kill a few special operators”.
He went on to say that right now the United States policy is total “chaos” as it seems that the USA and the coalition is back paddling and thinking what sort of position to take.
In particular, after the U.S. announcement last month that it was pulling the plug on a half-billion-dollar effort to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels, the deployment tells the opposition that the USA remains in the game on its side – though modestly, Sayigh says. The US can still learn from our mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan, but as the President commits more fully to a military response, the door is closing.
The decision to send ground troops to assist local forces battling ISIS is a shift in President Barack Obama’s stance of not interfering with the raging Middle-East situation by the means of boots on ground.
Carter said the US forces in northern Syria will be in an area where Russian warplanes are not bombing, so it would not be necessary to talk to the Russians about steering clear.
Carter declined to be specific about where the US troops will operate in northern Syria but said they will be in territory controlled by Syrian Kurds.
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The president has also made a decision to boost tactical aircraft available for the fight, putting in 12 A-10s that are useful to give support to fighters on the ground when the enemy has no aircraft and elementary air defenses.
