Plotting a bad leave. No surprise here.| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| 200 more American troops headed to Syria |
| 2016-12-11 |
| Washington will send another 200 troops to Syria to help an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters seize the Daesh group bastion of Raqa, Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Saturday. "I can tell you today that the United States will deploy approximately 200 additional US forces in Syria," Carter told Gulf policymakers in the Bahraini capital Manama. They will complement 300 American special forces already in Syria to assist US-backed Kurdish-Arab fighters who in recent weeks began their offensive on Raqa. That operation coincides with a US-backed Iraqi effort to retake Mosul. The two cities are the last major urban centres under Daesh control after the militants suffered a string of territorial losses in Iraq and Syria over the past year. Carter told the Manama Dialogue security forum that the troop reinforcements will include bomb disposal experts and trainers as well as special forces. "We're now helping tens of thousands of local Syrian forces to isolate Raqa," from which they are only about 25 kilometres (15 miles), he said. Raqa, which has also served as a hub for militants plotting attacks abroad, is being isolated according to plan, Carter said. With the offensives against Mosul and Raqa, the US-led coalition against Daesh has reached "a critical milestone", Carter said. Iraqi forces are battling militants deep inside Mosul, edging closer to the River Tigris that divides the city and looking for a breakthrough in the seven-week-old offensive. "This is a complex mission that will take time to accomplish but I'm confident that militants' days in Mosul are numbered," Carter said. He warned that it is unclear what form Daesh will take after its eventual defeat in Iraq and Syria, so the coalition of Western and Middle Eastern nations battling it will need to remain vigilant. US adds munitions to Raqqa fighting [ARA News] Erbil – The US will provide additional arms support to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting in Raqqa. US President Barack Obama has waived prohibitions in the US Arms Export Control Act, which will allow the US to arm the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and their partners that launched the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation on Saturday. US officials said the waiver will not be used to arm groups in Aleppo, only groups fighting ISIS in northern Syria. “We’re talking about partner forces that we’re working with in northern Syria,” US State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said, in an indirect reference to the SDF forces. The waived sections of the law will allow the US to provide defence articles and services to forces within Syria allied to the US, a decision described by the White House as “essential” to national-security interests. “Since Syria is a state sponsor of terrorism, from time to time the President has to enact – or waive, I guess – restrictions that would otherwise prohibit the US military from providing assistance, lethal assistance to our partners who are carrying out these activities against Daesh or ISIS,” Toner said. “We have provided some level of assistance to the Syrian Democratic Forces that are fighting in northern Syria against Daesh. That’s on top of the advice and training that we’ve provided these groups. And the reason we’ve done that is that they’ve been highly effective in going after and destroying Daesh on the battlefield in northern Syria,” Toner added. “(By enabling) the Syrian Democratic Forces to liberate territory in Syria, we work to bring and provide stability back into these cities, work with local governments, local councils to re-establish stability in these areas,” Toner said. “Our special envoy, Brett McGurk, is in constant contact with many of these groups, as well as with Turkish authorities and others in the region, on what comes next,” he stated. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 In sandals right? No boots. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-12-11 08:29 |
| #1 Plotting a bad leave. No surprise here. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-12-11 00:38 |