The new U.S. commander for the Middle East has secretly visited Syria to see efforts to build alliances of Arab, Kurd and other local fighters to defeat the Islamic State group.
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In this photo taken May 21, 2016, members of what the USA calls the Syrian Democratic Forces gather after a training session at a firing range in northern Syria.
“I left with increased confidence in their capabilities and our ability to support them”, he said.
The U.S.is sending 250 more special operations forces to Syria, as President Barack Obama announced last month. But on Saturday the US advisers camp that Votel visited was quiet.
The SDF involves around 25,000 Kurdish contenders and around 5,000 Arab warriors. Votel, the top USA commander for the Middle East secretly visited Syria for a first-hand look at efforts to build cohesive alliances of Arab, Kurd and other local fighters to defeat the Islamic State. The campaign is further complicated by Washington’s stance against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, marking a stark contrast to the situation in Iraq, where the USA is allied to the government. Splitting off from the reporters who flew in with him, Votel then visited several other undisclosed locations in Syria before returning to the camp.
“While ISIL [ISIS] leaders are reduced to audiotapes in the dark, Centcom commander GEN Votel was in Syria preparing push to Raqqa”, US Special Presidential Envoy for the coalition against ISIS Brett McGurk wrote on Twitter, mocking the recent audiotape of Islamic State spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adnani.
In September 2014, the United States and some of its allies started conducting airstrikes inside Syria against Daesh terrorists, many of whom were initially trained by the Central Intelligence Agency to fight against the Syrian government.
Arab commanders who spoke to journalists during the visit said their forces needed more help. Atop his list: armored vehicles, heavy weapons like machine guns, as well as rocket launchers and mortars.
“You can’t run an army on smuggling”, he said.
Tribal leaders also called on the U.S.to do more, both militarily and with humanitarian aid.
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The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that monitors the Syria conflict through local observers, said the planes responsible for the Arshaf strikes were seen to cross into Syrian airspace from Turkey.
