21st Century Wire says…
Various parties in Washington are quietly laying down the rhetorical tarmac for an increased US military operation in Syria.
Recent remarks by US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (see report below) in Davos appear to dovetail with similar words yesterday from US Vice President Joe Biden who stated, “We are prepared to have a military solution for this operation, and taking out Daesh (ISIS).”
The following was reported by Press TV yesterday, but as yet, we cannot corroborate the story:
“The United States denies its special operations troops have taken over an airfield in northeastern Syria, near the country’s border with Iraq and Turkey. A spokesman of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said Friday that the military “denied that US forces have taken control of any airfield in Syria”. However, a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told Al Jazeera earlier this week that the US special operations forces had taken over the airfield near the city of Rmeilan in Syria’s Hasakah province to support Kurdish fighters against the Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri group.’
Regardless, don’t think for one second that the Pentagon doesn’t already have some boots on the ground inside Syria…
DELTA FORCE: According to a report at Friends of Syria, US Delta Force units are already on the ground in southern Syria near Jordanian border (Image Source: South Front)
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has reiterated US plans to increase its military presence in the campaign to retake Mosul and Raqqa from Islamic State, but urged other members of its coalition – like Turkey – to contribute more to the war effort.
“We’re looking for opportunities to do more, and there will be boots on the ground — I want to be clear about that — but it’s a strategic question, whether you are enabling local forces to take and hold, rather than trying to substitute for them,” Carter told CNBC from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“I don’t think we or anybody else can substitute for them, but there’s a lot we can do to enable them, including being on the ground with them.”
US to increase number of troops in Iraq; Carter discusses 'accelerating' ISIS campaign https://t.co/cub1ZQ50Vi pic.twitter.com/FZBqbeBk3M
— RT (@RT_com) January 21, 2016
There are currently about 3,600 US military staff in Iraq, in training and military support roles, with US officials announcing earlier this week that “hundreds, not thousands” more will be on their way shortly, though Carter himself vowed on Thursday that the numbers would “increase greatly as the momentum of the effort increases.”
The reason for the uptick is the planned offensive against Raqqa, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) headquarters in Syria, and Mosul, Iraq’s second biggest city also overrun by IS…
READ MORE PENTAGON NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Pentagon Files
