And while about four dozen United States troops “is a pretty marginal contribution of forces, what they may be able to do is cooperate more effectively with [rebel] forces on the ground”, says Emma Ashford, a visiting fellow in defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute in Washington.
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There is and always has been a strategy.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Saturday quoted the SDF as announcing the “start of a campaign to liberate the southern countryside of al-Hasakah with the participation of all factions of Syrian Democratic Forces and the support of US-led coalition warplanes”. “Lieut. Smith, deploy your squad to the Syrian town of Maheen, in central Homs Province, where Islamic state forces are dug in”.
2015-11-02 The Russian intervention in Syria represents strategic change for the region.
“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.
There is no quick fix to Syria’s problems.
It seems the Obama non-interventionist era has officially ended.
“By putting a few “skin in the game” on the ground in Syria, Washington may be able to make a credible pitch to regional powers to provide the ground combat components that can sweep IS from Syria”, Hof said. At the last such meeting in 2014 in Geneva, the opposition appeared as the Syrian National Coalition, but there is no such united group at present. The truth is that these courageous Americans will be target practice for Islamic State and other Syrian enemies and may wind up starring in a ISIS beheading video. If any cease-fire is agreed to, it would not prevent attacks against such groups.
The military side is no less complicated.
Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the US would do more to support moderate Syrian forces fighting IS.
“The backbone of these forces are the Kurdish groups because of their experience fighting ISIS and their numbers”, said Redur Xelil, a spokesman for Syria’s dominant Kurdish force, the Y.P.G. That proved to be an idle threat, establishing Obama’s reputation as a leader whose bark is far worse than his bite and encouraging further challenges to US policy.
“We already have seen that slippery slope in action as the administration has gone from a limited ground presence in Iraq, to over 3,000 advisers and trainers”, he said. “There’s nothing quite like the face-to-face contact”.
“I’ve been consistent throughout that we are not going to be fighting, like we did in Iraq, with battalions and occupations”, he said, in his first public address on the topic since the deployment was announced Friday.
In a briefing by Lt. General (Retired) Dave Deptula, the question of a Syrian no fly zone was examined carefully when it first bubbled up as a popular antidote to the disintegration of Syria. The U.S. was attracted by their success, even if they are post-Marxists. Exactly how long the troops will remain in Syria is unclear, but it could be anywhere from a couple of weeks to months. The Rangers are part of the U.S. special forces that could see action in Syria soon.
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He added that the US will soon beef up its air campaign by sending F-15 fighter planes to a Turkish air base, giving the U.S.an opportunity to accelerate airstrikes.
