US sending ground troops to fight Islamic State in Syria

In marked escalation, Obama orders deployment of dozens of commandos to help anti-IS coalition coordinate with local troops

WASHINGTON (AP) — A small number of US special operations forces will be deployed to northern Syria to work with local ground forces in the fight against Islamic State militants, senior American officials said Friday, marking the first time American troops will be working openly on the ground in the war-torn country.

US officials said President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of fewer than 50 commandos to help coalition forces coordinate with the local troops.

Although the number is small, it marks an escalation of US involvement in the fight against the Islamic State, which controls a large part of northern Syria and has its self-proclaimed capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

One official said that a first group of forces — possibly a couple of dozen — will go relatively soon to assess the situation and determine which groups on the ground the US can best work with. More special operations forces would follow once the US better determines what the needs are.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter hinted at the deployment earlier this week, saying the US was retooling its strategy in Iraq and Syria and would conduct unilateral ground raids if needed to target Islamic State militants. The US has carried out special operations raids in Syria, and it participated in a ground operation to rescue hostages last week in northern Iraq that resulted in the first US combat death in that country since 2011.

The US will also be sending additional aircraft, including F-15 fighters and A-10s to the Incirlik air base in Turkey, likely repositioning them from other spots in the region.

The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L), UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura (2nd L) and US Secretary of State John Kerry (2nd R) arrive for a press conference at the Grand Hotel in Vienna, Austria on October 30, 2015. (AFP PHOTO/POOL/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI)

Senior US officials have been discussing deploying special forces in Syria “for months,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday, denying that the operation had been announced to influence multinational talks on how to end the war in Syria, held Friday in Vienna.

“The president has been determined that we are going to increase our efforts against Daesh,” Kerry said, using an Arabic term for Islamic State.

Kerry was in Vienna for talks with 17 powers, including Iran and Russia, on measures to halt the civil war in Syria. As the ministers were talking, officials in Washington announced the deployment.

Asked about this at a news conference after the talks, Kerry insisted that the timing of the news was a “coincidence.” Suggesting skepticism, his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov grinned and joked: “We did not plant this question.”