When President Barack Obama dramatically shifted his Syria policy last week and announced he would station Special Operations forces in the war-plagued country, Republicans were quick to criticize the move.
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The SDF announcement came a day after the White House said it would send “fewer than 50” special forces personnel to Syria’s north, reversing a long-standing refusal to put USA boots on the ground.
It is the first full-time deployment of USA forces to the civil war-ravaged country.
Regarding Syria, Moulton called America’s sending about 50 special forces soldiers into the country a “grave concern” because the soldiers’ deployment lacks a larger political objective.
“They’ll probably help out with a few high-value target targeting – very limited, though”, says the senior fellow for national security at the Family Research Council. However, the USA has conducted special operations raids into Syria before now and will continue to do more unilateral raids. “And unfortunately Democrats have the reputation for doing this sort of thing”. After cheering on the most lawless president in American history for seven years, now they wonder where Congress is? Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
Over the past year, however, he has emphasized that he would not send USA “combat” troops there.
The White House also is expected to announce an undetermined number of U.S. forces will form a task force based in Erbil, in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, to support forces against the Islamic State group (ISIS) in both Iraq and Syria.
Assistant secretary of State Anne Patterson says that so far, US diplomatic efforts have not led to any agreement about Assad. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the decision was “another insufficient step in the Obama administration’s policy of gradual escalation”.
Moreover she said Russian Federation also should work with the US and its partners toward a cease-fire and political transition.
The YPG was accused of war crimes in a recent report by Amnesty global, which documented allegations that the group forcibly displaced Arabs and Turkmen and burned down villages perceived as cooperating with its opponents. There is no ground force that the USA can quickly train.
American officials say the talks marked a significant new phase, one they hope is an endgame for Assad’s reign. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, said the president’s new plans for Syria do not go far enough.
The military campaign against IS is nowhere near the size and scope of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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“I did not say that Assad has to go or that Assad has to stay”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said through an interpreter.
