In policy shift, Obama to send U.S. special forces to Syria
WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Friday that he had ordered several dozen Special Operations troops into Syria for the first open-ended mission by United States ground forces in that country, deepening American involvement in a war he has tried to avoid for more than four years.
While the deployment was small in scale, it was large in importance for a president who had refused to commit American ground forces inside Syria beyond quick raids. White House officials said the troops would advise local forces fighting the Islamic State and not play a direct combat role, but they left open the possibility of sending more in the future.
The escalation came just weeks after Russia inserted itself into the multisided civil war to support President Bashar al-Assad, bombing opposition forces, including some supported by the United States. Although not characterized as a response, the dispatch of American troops further complicates a kaleidoscopic battlefield with varied forces and sometimes murky allegiances.
The troops heading to Syria will number “fewer than 50,” the White House said, but Pentagon officials said even those numbers would be useful in coordinating efforts with Kurdish forces. Republicans argued it was too little and too late to make a meaningful difference, while some Democrats said it pushed the United States further down a slippery slope into a hopeless war.
The White House insisted this was not a case of mission creep. “The mission has not changed,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. “These forces,” he added, “do not have a combat mission.”
“The responsibility that they have is not to lead the charge to take a hill, but rather to offer advice and assistance to those local forces about the best way they can organize their efforts to take the fight to ISIL or to take the hill inside of Syria,” he said.
But the definition of combat has shifted since the United States last year began taking on the Islamic State, also called ISIS or ISIL. In May, Delta Force commandos entered Syria aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Ospreys and killed an Islamic State leader and about a dozen militant fighters. The soldier killed last week was part of a force accompanying Kurdish commandos on a raid to free prisoners held by the Islamic State.
In addition to the Special Operations deployment, Mr. Obama authorized deploying A-10 and F-15 warplanes to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. The A-10s are capable of providing close in-air support to fighters on the ground. The F-15s can carry out a range of air-to-ground combat missions.
WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Friday that he had ordered several dozen Special Operations troops into Syria for the first open-ended mission by United States ground forces in that country, deepening American involvement in a war he has tried to avoid for more than four years.
While the deployment was small in scale, it was large in importance for a president who had refused to commit American ground forces inside Syria beyond quick raids. White House officials said the troops would advise local forces fighting the Islamic State and not play a direct combat role, but they left open the possibility of sending more in the future.
The escalation came just weeks after Russia inserted itself into the multisided civil war to support President Bashar al-Assad, bombing opposition forces, including some supported by the United States. Although not characterized as a response, the dispatch of American troops further complicates a kaleidoscopic battlefield with varied forces and sometimes murky allegiances.
The troops heading to Syria will number “fewer than 50,” the White House said, but Pentagon officials said even those numbers would be useful in coordinating efforts with Kurdish forces. Republicans argued it was too little and too late to make a meaningful difference, while some Democrats said it pushed the United States further down a slippery slope into a hopeless war.
The White House insisted this was not a case of mission creep. “The mission has not changed,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. “These forces,” he added, “do not have a combat mission.”
“The responsibility that they have is not to lead the charge to take a hill, but rather to offer advice and assistance to those local forces about the best way they can organize their efforts to take the fight to ISIL or to take the hill inside of Syria,” he said.
But the definition of combat has shifted since the United States last year began taking on the Islamic State, also called ISIS or ISIL. In May, Delta Force commandos entered Syria aboard Black Hawk helicopters and V-22 Ospreys and killed an Islamic State leader and about a dozen militant fighters. The soldier killed last week was part of a force accompanying Kurdish commandos on a raid to free prisoners held by the Islamic State.
In addition to the Special Operations deployment, Mr. Obama authorized deploying A-10 and F-15 warplanes to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. The A-10s are capable of providing close in-air support to fighters on the ground. The F-15s can carry out a range of air-to-ground combat missions.
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