Signaling a possible escalation of USA military action in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday that the United States is retooling its strategy in Iraq and Syria and would conduct unilateral ground raids if needed to target Islamic State militants.
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“The deepening USA cooperation with the YPG in Syria sets the stage for a military response from Turkey, which is anxious that emboldened Kurdish leaders will step up their demands for an independent state in Kurdish dominated areas straddling parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran”, the Journal noted Tuesday.
The changes to the Obama administration’s anti-ISIS strategy are intended be more militarily aggressive in order to break the stalemate that forces fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq have reached, according to Business Insider.
“We are willing to continue providing more enabling capabilities and fire support to help our Iraqi partners succeed”, Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
USA officials would not say which power would pass the invitation to Tehran and did not know if Iran would accept, but they said it would be welcome to attend.
The changes focus largely on targeting Raqqa, the IS capital in Syria, and recapturing Ramadi which was seized by IS in May.
Still, Obama’s administration is under pressure to ramp up America’s effort, particularly after the fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi to Islamic State in May and the failure of a USA military program to train and arm thousands of Syrian rebels.
He did not divulge the circumstances by which the U.S. might carry out operations on the ground on its own.
He also said the U.S. would support Jordan and intensify airstrikes on IS targets in Syria.
Carter’s pledge to intensify strikes comes as the US-led coalition has been hitting fewer targets in Syria.
More than 250,000 people have been killed since Syria’s brutal conflict broke out in March 2011, sparked by a bloody crackdown on protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
The first “R” is aimed at retaking Raqqa, Syria, the de facto capital of ISIS, away from the control of the militants.
“If local Sunni forces aren’t sufficiently equipped, regularly paid, and empowered as co-equal members of the Iraqi Security Forces, [IS’s] defeats in Anbar will only be temporary”, he warned.
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“And that is that he is – does want to support – at least for now – Assad, avoid the collapse of the Syrian state, which I think he believed could occur, and that was one of the things that spurred his enhanced support for Assad”, he said.
