Airlift of forces in Syria shows growing US involvement
WASHINGTON: The deepening US military involvement against Daesh militants in northern Syria indicates the Pentagon will likely send even more troops in coming weeks. Their mission will not be to fight on the front lines but to bolster Syrian Arab and Kurdish forces in a coming battle for the key city of Raqqa.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon disclosed that Marine pilots airlifted scores of Syrian partner forces to the front lines, kicking off an offensive designed to capture a strategic crossroads along the Euphrates River. It was the first such US assistance to the Arab and Kurdish fighters comprising the Syrian Democratic Forces. In a support role, the US also fired artillery and flew Apache attack helicopters for the first time in Syria.
US officials reported no major developments on the ground Thursday. Resistance from Daesh fighters appeared less fierce than anticipated, said one official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing operation and demanded anonymity. The US-backed forces said in a statement they had already secured some territory.
“It has become a military base to launch our operations on the west bank of the river until eventually liberating all the countryside of Raqqa,” the statement said.
The US troops have not engaged in ground combat. But the new offensive suggests the Trump administration is taking an increasingly aggressive approach as it plans an assault on Raqqa.
But the moves on Tabqa Dam, as well as the town by the same name and a nearby airfield, also highlight an unresolved US dispute with Turkey over which Syrian forces should participate in the operation to recapture Raqqa.
Turkey, a longstanding US ally in NATO, strongly opposes the Kurdish role because Ankara considers the main Kurdish fighting force, known as YPG, a terrorist organization. Washington, however, sees the YPG as an effective battlefield partner. As recently as this week, US officials said some Kurds would inevitably be part of the Raqqa offensive, although the Pentagon was still holding out hope of reaching an accommodation with the Turks.
Col. Joseph Scrocca, a spokesman for the US-led military coalition that is fighting Daesh in Syria and Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that the Tabqa operation was large and likely would last for weeks. He would not say how many US-allied fighters are involved.
By design, the operation coincides with a potentially climactic battle for Mosul, the main Daesh group stronghold in Iraq. Together, the battles reflect a US strategy of presenting Daesh with multiple challenges simultaneously.
Although Mosul and Raqqa are easily the two most important Daesh holdings, their recapture by US-backed local forces is not expected to mark the complete collapse of Daesh as an international threat.