"The US special forces have already begun to support local groups in Syria in the fight against the Islamic State." This is what American President Barack Obama said today on the sidelines of the National Security Council at the Pentagon.
It should be the last institutional commitment of Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter leaving for the Middle East. "I have ordered our commandos already present in Syria to support the local forces with all the power at their disposal, tightening their grip on Raqqa even more. Our special forces operators are authorized to engage the enemy even on the front line. In recent weeks, we have unleashed a new wave of raids on key Caliphate structures, destroying hundreds of trucks, wells and refineries. We will continue to hammer them relentlessly. We will be devastating, we will hit them harder and harder. "
On October 30, Obama announced the deployment of 50 Green Berets in Syria supported by an autonomous battle group consisting of F-15s, A-10s, Apache helicopters and armed drones. The sending of the green berets, also called multipliers, is a clear signal of the new strategy of the White House against the Islamic State. This is the last piece: US troops are now close to the front line in the fight against Isis.
As it was easy to foresee, the 50 green berets represent only the bridgehead of a real fighting contingent of the Special Operations Forces. Another 150 operators will arrive in Syria in the next few hours. Air support was set up at the Incirlik base in Turkey, which has become the most important in the Middle East.
It should be noted that the US, between Iraq and Syria, has about 600 members of the special units between Seal, Delta and HK of the CIA. The fact that it is now in the public domain is only a formality: in fact, the US has been fighting on the front lines for weeks in both Syria and Iraq. The United States has 3550 troops in Iraq.
(photo: Navy SEALs)
