Carter’s statement appears to be a doubling-down of comments he made last week following the raid in which US Special Operations forces and Kurdish peshmerga troops stormed an IS-run prison near Hawijah in northern Iraq, freeing a few 70 captives who were facing imminent execution.
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Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says the US will begin to increase the tempo of an air campaign against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iran.
Marine Corp General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate hearing he would consider recommending putting more US forces with Iraqi troops to support the Islamic State fight if it improved chances of defeating the militants. He said US forces aimed to intensify pressure on IS strongholds in Raqqa in Syria and Ramadi in Iraq.
Lindsey Graham, a Republican presidential candidate, said after a lengthy back-and-forth with Carter about how the U.S.is supporting fighters in Syria.
The White House would need to approve any US military expansion on the ground.
The talks will draw together diplomats from a dozen countries that have striking differences on potential solutions for the Syrian war – and whose relations with Iran range from warm to outright gelid.
Russian Federation escalated its pro-Assad intervention in Syria earlier this month with air strikes it said targeted ISIS locations in Syria but the US claims has hit non-ISIS rebels instead.
Carter confirmed that the possibility of a no-fly zone over Syria is still on the table, which would be used to prevent the Syrian air force from barrel bombing or using air power against the civilian population. He also complained about the U.S.
“Major concentrations of US forces actively conducting patrolling, actively conducting attacks against specific enemy known locations in order to gain, seize and hold territory…it’s not any of that”, said Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Dunford said the “balance of forces” is now in Assad’s favor.
The options under consideration include placing USA advisers alongside local combat units in Iraq and embedding a small number of US advisers with Syrian forces fighting the Islamic State, the official said.
“The changes we’re pursuing can be described by what I call the “three R’s”: Raqqa, Ramadi, and Raids”, Carter said.
However, the USA military might have a hard time getting these additional raids and air strikes approved by the Iraqi government, as they just aren’t very into the idea of rekindling a bigger relationship with us right now, ISIS or no. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told NBC News, “This is an Iraqi affair and the government did not ask the U.S. Department of Defense to be involved in direct operations”.
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“The (US) strategy has completely fallen apart”, Senator Lyndsey Graham said. The Kurds have been the most effective allies the United States had on the ground in the battle against Isis.
