Conflict accelerates

250 special ops personnel will join the forces in Syria.

hannover, germany» President Barack Obama outlined plans Monday to bolster U.S. special operations forces in Syria, raising their number to as many as 300 in a move he said was needed to keep pressure on the Islamic State.

The president noted gains made by the current 50 special operators in missions to advise and assist local forces batting the Islamic State, which holds territory in Syria and Iraq.

“Given the success, I’ve approved the deployment of up to 250 additional U.S. personnel … to keep up this momentum,” Obama said in a speech that also focused broadly on European issues.

Obama emphasized that the new troops are “not going to be leading the fight on the ground” but that they would work with local forces.

The expanded U.S. military presence in Syria is aimed in part at helping to expand the ranks of Arab fighters in a network of groups, now dominated by Kurdish fighters, that the United States is backing as it battles the Islamic State. The additional U.S. forces work with Kurdish militiamen and others as they seek to isolate Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria.

“So make no mistake, these terrorists will learn the same lesson as others before them have, which is your hatred is no match for our nations, united in the defense of our way of life,” Obama said in Hannover at the end of a trip that included talks in Saudi Arabia and Britain.

The president also pledged to continue pressing hard on diplomatic efforts to end Syria’s civil war, because “the suffering of the Syrian people has to end, and that requires an effective political transition.”

The decision to increase the number of special operations forces in Iraq and Syria was made this month. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced an additional 200 service members for Iraq during a visit to Baghdad last week.

Obama also has authorized U.S. commanders in Iraq to use Apache attack helicopters and deploy American advisers with lowerlevel Iraqi units to assist local troops in a future offensive to reclaim the city of Mosul.

The increase is part of an overall acceleration in the fight against the Islamic State. Despite a string of what the administration has described as successes — including territory reclaimed from the militants in Iraq and Syria and the severing of supply and communication lines between Islamic State forces in the two countries — some aspects of the conflict have gone more slowly, or have been less successful, than anticipated.