Hundreds of Marines with heavy artillery deployed to Syria

US forces are setting up an outpost some 20 miles south of the city, where they will establish an artillery battery that will fire powerful 155mm shells from M777 howitzers, in support of the coalition force’s offensive, according to Defense Department sources who spoke to the Washington Post.

The Marines “are ready to conduct their mission” to support the offensive on Raqa, the official told AFP, confirming a report in the Washington Post.

The Syrian Defense Forces – the USA -supported coalition led by Kurds that also includes Arab and Turkmen fighters – have been working to isolate Raqqa since November, as we reported.

“We are still working to train advise and assist indigenous forces in defeating ISIS in Syria”.

The SDF spokeswoman said their numbers are increasing with more residents of newly-liberated areas from IS joining the ethnically-mixed force, which has been the most effective group on the ground in Syria in the battle against the extremists. The administration also announced a high level meeting on March 22 of the 68 countries in the US -led coalition to discuss plans to accelerate ISIL’s defeat.

The additional deployment comprises a total of 400 USA forces – both Marines and Army Rangers.

Meanwhile, US Marines from an amphibious task force have left their ships in the Middle East and deployed to Syria, establishing an outpost from which they can fire artillery guns in support of the fight to take back the city of Raqqa from Isis. It was not part of Donald Trump’s promised revamped plan to defeat ISIS. Also being lifted are restraints that were supposedly in place to limit so-called “collateral damage”, i.e., the slaughter of Iraqi and Syrian civilians.

“We expect they will fortify the city and the terrorist group will depend on street warfare”, Jihan Sheikh Ahmed, spokeswoman for the SDF, said in a statement, according to Reuters.

“We don’t really think we can find a way to liberate Raqqa without the Kurds, short of a huge Turkish intervention ― which is not going to happen ― or a huge American intervention ― which is not going to happen”, said Michael O’Hanlon, an analyst at the Brookings Institute think tank. This represents an increase of almost 50 percent compared to the same period in 2016, and is almost double the number of airstrikes conducted in 2015.

The US president is weighing up deploying 1,000 American soldiers to Kuwait to speed up the fight against the terror group in Iraq and Syria.

At least 23 civilians, including eight children, have been killed in air raids on an ISIL-held village in northern Syria, according to a monitor.

Dorrian said the Rangers were sent on a different mission than the Marines near the city of Manbij to “create some reassurance” for US-allied Turkey and United States partners in Syria.

The SDF, which includes the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), is the main USA partner on the ground in Syria and has been fighting Daesh for months around Raqqah, the de facto capital of the terrorist group in the country.