The testimony from Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, and Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, Joint Chiefs chairman, came at a testy Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in which hawkish Republicans expressed broad dissatisfaction with the Obama war policy in Iraq and Syria.
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Deputy White House Press Secretary Eric Schultz emphasized yesterday that whatever new actions the USA took in Iraq or Syria, they would be temporary: “And I can tell you that, as the President has made clear, we have no intention to pursue long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our nation has conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan”. The American-backed rebel force in Syria is a tiny fraction of what it was supposed to be, it looks more likely than ever that Assad will be in power, and US troops will continue to be dispatched to fight ISIS on the ground.
“We expect to intensify our air campaign, including with additional USA and coalition aircraft, to target ISIL with a higher and heavier rate of strikes”, he said.
Hadithi said that for the time being, Iraq only requires the support of the United States in “arming and training Iraqi forces”.
As Cortney wrote, a U.S. Special Forces member was killed in action during a raid that freed 70 hostages from an ISIS-run prison in northern Iraq last week.
“That’s the only way to make defeat of ISIL stick, is to have the involvement of local forces, who can take and hold territory – and we’re prepared to help them”, he said.
He also said the United States also wouldn’t hesitate to support local forces with “direct action”. He also complained about the U.S.
“We will soon announce zero hour for the beginning of the battle of liberation from oppression and persecution”, leader Abu Issa said in the video, which was posted on Youtube by an activist group called Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently.
Dunford said the “balance of forces” is now in Assad’s favor.
Reports earlier this month also indicated that Baghdad might eventually ask Moscow to conduct a similar air campaign over Iraq, a move that might tilt the military balance in the region, where the U.S. has held a firm grip over a decade.
“We are not doing a damn thing to help the people who want to change Syria for the better by getting rid of the dictator in Damascus”, said Graham. We’ll soon see whether they’re enough to meaningfully change the facts on the ground. He cited last week’s raid where USA advisers in support of Kurdish forces to rescue the prisoners.
Mr Carter said the U.S. would be willing to provide more firepower if the Iraqi government can create a motivated force that includes ethnic Sunnis. “They are putting a lot of stock in Friday’s meetings”, he said.
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USA military officials said last week that air strikes had attacked IS operations in the al- Omar oilfield in eastern Syria, which is at the heart of the oil enterprise operated by the group.
