Carter said the new force would focus on helping Iraq defend its borders and build its security forces, but also would be in position to conduct unilateral operations into Syria.
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Special Ops forces will be directly involved in combat as “trigger pullers” in the new deployment but the general thrust of President Barack Obama’s prohibition against “boots on the ground” combat will be maintained, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-operation Inherent Resolve. However, this announcement implies the Pentagon is looking to make their role in Iraq a more permanent fixture in the battle against IS and escalates the US’ role in the conflict.
Obama has set the maximum number of USA troops in Iraq at 3,550, but it was not clear whether the president will increase that number to accommodate the force.
Hurd said such spying operations had waned in recent years he said, with the US wind-down in Afghanistan and Iraq.
With the situation continuing to shift rapidly, who exactly is fighting IS in Syria and Iraq, and in what capacity?
Carter told legislators the department plans to deploy a specialized expeditionary targeting force, escalate the attack on ISIL revenue sources and target ISIL leadership.
Now an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute, Pregent said even if the new US force is successful in eliminating high-value targets, it may not be enough.
The US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq since August 2014, and has also provided arms and training to forces in the country, but deploying forces with a specific combat mission deepens its involvement.
The news was met with caution in the U.S.as well.
Carter discussed strategy and noted that U.S.-backed Kurdish forces had recently retaken the strategic town of Sinjar and cut off ISIS’s “main line of communication” between Raqqa, Syria and Mosul, Iraq, which are the two biggest cities still under their control.
The U.S. military in Baghdad said Wednesday the deployment of Special Operations teams for raids and other small-scale combat missions against the Islamic State will go ahead despite Iraqi political opposition. Senator John McCain – who along with many other Republicans has been pushing for more special operations forces in the region for years – called the move a “belated step forward”.
“We are acting to defeat ISIL at its core”, said Carter, using the government’s acronym for ISIS. One US troop died in the operation.
ISIL uses a tunnel-and-trench network, which includes shallow trenches with aluminum overhead cover to larger, more elaborate underground tunnel systems for its fighters’ protection, concealment and movement, Warren said, showing reporters a video of airstrikes that struck a tunnel’s entrance, exit and length.
“If all we have is Western aggression, we will never win”, he said. Britain said they struck oil fields used to fund Islamic State.
GERMANY: Has sent around 100 soldiers to train Kurdish troops and is to vote on whether or not to send 1,200 to fight in Syria, notably onboard a frigate that will accompany the Charles de Gaulle, and on refueling and reconnaissance aircraft.
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Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., asked: “Why should we think the administration is on the right path now … when you say you didn’t have the right intelligence back in 2010?”
