Pentagon sending special force to conduct raids in Iraq, Syria

Islamic State conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014.

The Defense Department has brushed aside a statement from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that some interpret as staunch opposition to a newly announced secretive commando unit set to deploy hundreds more US troops into the war zone to intensify the fight against the Islamic State group.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, later told AFP the number would be about 200. “It would go in, conduct raids and go out”.

Over the past two years, the United States has deployed special forces in Iraq and Syria on a number of occasions to fulfil various specific roles. You don’t know at night who’s going to be coming in the window. “And that’s the sensation we want all of ISIL’s leadership and followers to have”.

“We do not need foreign ground combat forces on Iraqi land”, Abadi said in a statement, Reuters reported late on Tuesday. One of the few successes these Iraqi militiamen had had was at Takrit, and that only because Obama ordered the US Air Force to give them air support.

The White House also ordered the deployment of about 50 special operation forces to Syria to assist and advise local forces there including the Kurdish People’s Union Party (PYD).

Another Democratic member of Congress, Barbara Lee of California, said Congress should have a more serious debate about the way ahead. At the time, Pentagon officials insisted he was still part of a training effort.

Though about 65 nations are in the US-led coalition, American warplanes and drones do the lion’s share of work.

“I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria”, the president said.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron on December 2 sought backing from Parliament for the United Kingdom to carry out air strikes against ISIL targets in Syria.

Republican Sen. John McCain called the move a “belated step forward” in the fight against IS. He said, “However, today’s announcement is yet another reactive and incremental step, specifically responding to the Paris attacks, in a policy that has allowed the ISIL threat to metastasize to Libya, Afghanistan, and elsewhere across the globe”. The militant group controls a wide swath of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

The top US military officer, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, said the new force would greatly accelerate the collection of intelligence, which “will make our operations much more effective”.

The deployment of the US Special Forces in Iraq, caused the reaction of the Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim armed groups which promised to fight against their deployment.

Carter said that in recent weeks, airstrikes have destroyed IS oil wells, processing facilities and almost 400 oil tanker-trucks.