But he noted that the U.S. support to the rebel forces against ISIS, is not likely to lead to deposing of President Bashar Assad from power.
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No one should envy President Obama’s dilemma in this global chess game.
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.
Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Obama’s home state of Hawaii, said the latest escalation “is unlikely to succeed in achieving our objective of defeating IS and instead threatens to embroil the United States in Syria’s civil war”.
There is no quick fix to Syria’s problems.
Obama’s term ends in January 2017. The meeting would be held to determine an interim Damascus government and the process for a new constitution and elections.
For years, the president has said Syria was precisely the kind of situation he was elected to keep the US military from.
But the participation by Russian Federation and Iran in the attempt could mark a new and promising phase in the diplomacy since those countries have staunchly backed Assad. If any cease-fire is agreed to, it would not prevent attacks against such groups.
The United States on Saturday announced it is providing almost $100 million more in aid to the Syrian opposition for tasks like supporting local councils and civil society activists.
The military side is no less complicated. “I don’t see a strategy towards accomplishing a goal, I see an effort to run out the clock without disaster”, he said. It helped Iraqi forces rescue hostages last week, and Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed, the first US combat death in that country since 2011.
Obama okayed a deployment of “fewer than 50” special operations forces in the north of the war-ravaged nation in a bid to strengthen forces fighting the self-styled Islamic State, spokesman Josh Earnest said.
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.
President Barack Obama’s plan to send up to 50 Special Forces troops to Syria “to train, advise and assist” is a mistake. “There’s nothing quite like the face-to-face contact”.
Officials would not say exactly how many troops would go to Syria, detail their role or say how long they would stay.
For the foreseeable future, the new USA personnel will not do joint operations with those Syrian groups nor serve as forward air controllers to guide US and coalition aircraft to targets. They will work with moderate opposition forces who are fighting the militants.
An Arab commander told a media organization that he was chased away from his home town in Syria.
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The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were formed in mid-October as an alliance between the powerful Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and other Syrian rebel groups. That includes sending special aircrafts, including F-15 fighters and A-10s to the Incirlik air base in Turkey.
