Marines deploy to Syria with artillery

Hundreds of US Marines armed with heavy artillery have arrived in Syria to help allied local forces in preparation for an offensive to recapture the city of Raqqah from Daesh terrorists, officials say. It outlined a strategy that would likely increase the number of US troops in Syria in order to better advise and enable the USA -backed Syrian fighters who will take on the battle for Raqqa. The fresh troops consist of US Marines and Army Rangers, the US Army’s elite military formation, the colonel said. Talking to reporters last month in Baghdad, Defense Secretary James Mattis said of having a strong Turkish element in the Raqqa fighting force, “We’re still sorting it out”.

In January, the Pentagon announced that it was preparing to deploy 300 Marines to the restive Helmand province in Afghanistan’s south, which saw some of the fiercest fighting during the war’s worst days, and is the site of vicious fighting between government forces and a resurgent Taliban.

“This is about providing options”, a US official told the news agency.

A senior United States official said the deployed Marines are “pre-positioning howitzers to be ready to assist local Syrian forces”, without referring to a specific group. Rolling 200 Marines backed with Howitzers into northern Syria, the Trump administration is ditching its predecessor’s style of working quietly behind the scenes in Syria’s conflict, opting instead for dramatic displays of USA force in an attempt to shape the fight.

A projectile fired from an electromagnetic rail gun.

Twenty-three were killed in a bombardment by suspected US -led coalition jets on the village of al-Matab on the eastern outskirts of al-Raqqa, which is Daesh’s de-facto capital in Syria, the monitoring group added.

Manbij has been controlled by the opposition Syrian Democratic Forces since they captured the area from ISIL in August previous year.

And that’s a critical point, because while coalition forces are finding success in reducing ISIS overall, they don’t have a magical solution to end lone wolf attacks that are still popping up, as they have in Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in recent months. A USA official told reporters Wednesday that intelligence indicates some ISIS leadership and operatives continue to try to leave the city.

A spokesperson for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit did not respond to a request for comment.

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.

The Marines and Rangers will provide the “commander greater agility to expedite the destruction of ISIS in Raqqah”.

Syrian forces- joined by a US Marines artillery unit – put the heat on ISIS jihadists, as they closed in on the jihadists’ de-facto capital of Raqqa on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, US-led coalition air strikes in northern Syria killed at least 23 civilians, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground.

The White House is considering whether to send another 1,000 American soldiers to Kuwait to serve as a “reserve force” for the Raqqa offensive, Reuters reported Wednesday. “Defense officials said they are there to discourage Syrian or Turkish troops from making any moves that could shift the focus away from an assault on Islamic State militants”.

A multi-front battle ensued, and Daesh has lost ground on both sides of the border, even as the civil war rages on in Syria.

A total of nine American service members have been killed in OIR combat operations, while 33 have been wounded, according to Pentagon statistics.