Carter said, “We are willing to continue providing more enabling capabilities and fire support to help our Iraqi partners succeed”. But I want to be clear: “the American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission”, Mr. Obama said during a short address to troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.
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On December 11, 2011, the last American combat troops present in Iraq withdrewacross the border with Kuwait, ending the nine-year war that cost the United States 4,500 soldiers and billions of dollars.
Defense officials say any additional Special Operations ground actions would fall under existing authorizations for the anti-IS fight. He also complained about the U.S.
And on the diplomatic side, the State Department said it expected Damascus’s key ally Iran to be invited to a new round of talks in Vienna this week on a political solution.
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carter said he expects more actions like the one last week that freed dozens of captives but left an American commando dead in Iraq. This move comes after ISIS took control over the Iraqi city of Ramadi and the withdrawal of the USA military program to train and arm thousands of Syrian rebels.
Russian Federation escalated its pro-Assad intervention in Syria earlier this month with air strikes it said targeted ISIS locations in Syria but the USA claims has hit non-ISIS rebels instead.
Raids. These signal that the USA will not hold back from opportunistic attacks against ISIS itself or by supporting partners, whether by air strikes or direct ground action. If it is done as the USA intends, the attacks “should help shrink ISIL’s territory into a smaller and smaller area and create new opportunities for targeting ISIL – ultimately denying this evil movement any safe haven in its supposed heartland”.
The Pentagon has admitted USA troops are “in combat” in Iraq after previously characterising the mission as one of training and assisting Iraqi security forces against Islamic State.
Carter’s testimony drew criticism from Republicans on the committee, primarily because it does not involve the ouster of Assad.
Two USA officials said any deployments would be narrowly tailored, seeking to advance specific, limited military objectives in both Iraq and Syria. “This is a sad day for America and the region will pay hell for this”, Graham said, adding that he thought the US strategy was half-baked.
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Marine General Joseph Dunford told Iraqi leaders that it would be “very hard for us to be able to provide the kind of support you need if the Russians were here conducting operations as well”. They still require formal approval from Obama, who could make a decision as soon as this week and could decide not to alter the current course, said USA officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions are still ongoing. “The people of Syria are not going to accept this”.
