US military proposes 250 more special forces in Syria: Report
The United States is considering deploying 250 additional special forces in Syria as part of a broader effort to ramp up military operations against Daesh, according to a report.
The troops would be advising US-backed militant groups on how to accelerate the pace of the fight against Daesh terrorists, a Pentagon official said Friday, CNN reported.
The goal is to dislodge the terrorists from their strongholds in Raqqah, Syria, and Mosul in neighboring Iraq.
President Barack Obama underscored the importance of that goal after a meeting with top US military brass at the White House earlier this week.
“One of my main messages today is that destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority and so we can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqah and in Mosul,” the president said. “We are going to squeeze them and we will defeat them.”
The White House is weighing a set of new proposals by the Pentagon regarding the military strategy against Daesh in Iraq and Syria.
If approved, the new deployment would grow the current Special Operations force level of up to 50 troops which Obama authorized for Syria late last year.
As the Obama administration looks to ramp up the fight against Daesh in Iraq and Syria, the idea of an increased reliance on small teams of Special Operations troops is gaining traction.
However, some military officials have cautioned that the proposed strategy carries the risk of exposing US troops to enemy fire as it requires additional transportation and supply support that might become visible.
The US military has also resumed a highly-criticized program to train new groups of militants to fight Daesh in Syria.
In Iraq, the Pentagon has recently announced plans for sending additional US combat troops to the country to help local forces battle Daesh terrorists.
Efforts to increase the pace of the Daesh fight have been given added urgency as Europe has faced a wave of terror attacks in recent months.
Daesh terrorists, who were among the militants initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Iraq and Syria. They are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.
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