Several Hundred US Marines Deployed to Battle ISIS in Raqqa, Syria

The SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, launched its offensive for Raqqa in early November, and has since seized swathes of territory in northern Syria. Attack helicopters have also been sent.

In addition to 500 United States personnel now stationed on the ground in Syria, including air crews, ground forces, and special ops service members, Dorrian noted that a further 400-strong deployment has been pouring in during recent days.

American military officials have often stated that the SDF will need additional combat power if they are to press into Raqqa, where ISIS has already established elaborate defenses.

Another marine expeditionary unit carried out a similar mission at the start of the Iraqi government’s operation to recapture the city of Mosul from IS a year ago.

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

At least 30 civilians were killed Thursday during a series of airstrikes on two areas of Syria controlled by Daesh extremist militia, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

“Under the previous administration, approval for strikes came only after often slow-moving policy discussions, with senior officials required to sign off on any action, while the Trump administration has proven much quicker at greenlighting attacks”, Foreign Policy adds.

According to the sources cited by WaPo, the deployment of troops, though enacted under President Trump, is actually a carryover from the Obama administration and has “been in the works for some time”.

On Thursday, Iraqi troops were “combing the city centrer area to defuse (bombs in) homes and shops and buildings”, Lt. Col. Abdulamir al-Mohammedawi of Iraq’s elite Rapid Response Division told Agence France-Presse.

The Pentagon told PRI that the U.S. role in Syria “isn’t changing”.

“So the artillery support will enable them to get closer and defeat ISIS”, said Maj.

Does this still signal an escalation in U.S. involvement? This week’s deployment is just the latest commitment to that aim.

A small number of US troops is now in the Syrian town of Manbij to keep the peace between the Kurdish and Turkish forces. Will we end up fighting them, as we have many of our other false allies? In 2007, Bush ordered more than 20,000 troops into the country to maintain its security.

Here’s where it gets even more complicated. Turkey does not want those Kurdish forces to establish a permanent presence in Manbij and the Syrian forces do not want Turkey to assert itself in one of their cities.

But in a letter to the White House last month, Pentagon leaders appealed for an increase in order to better advise allied fighters ahead of the battle for Raqqa.

These changes are part of a shift in the rules of engagement for the USA intervention in the region, which is ostensibly directed at defeating ISIS.

Richard Hall reported from Beirut, Lebanon.