Rep. Thornberry pushes for ground force in Syria
The new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee says the US military should consider sending ground troops into battlefield in Syria to bolster the US-backed militants battling the ISIL terrorist group.
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said Thursday that the current US strategy was restricting the US military’s role in the Syrian conflict and called on President Barack Obama to deploy front-line troops to guide airstrikes and collect intelligence in the country, according to Stars and Stripes.
Thornberry was sworn in two weeks ago as the new chairman of the key House committee as a new Republican majority takes control of both chambers of Congress.
His call for US military presence inside Syria is reportedly backed by key Republicans in Congress, who have also been pushing for a more aggressive military role in Iraq.
“My point is we should not tie our hands and pretend there is a border there when there is not,” Thornberry told reporters Thursday. “You have to look at where in Syria [US troops would operate] and the risk they would be under and could they be protected.”
Obama’s strategy for rolling back the ISIL group in Syria involves an air campaign, launched since late September, and a plan to arm and train the so-called moderate militants into a proxy ground army against the terrorists.
The US and its allies have carried out more than 800 airstrikes in Syria, but the campaign has not prevented the ISIL group from expanding its control in the war-torn country. This has caused some Republican lawmakers to question the US strategy and push for a small force inside Syria to lead the offensive on the ground.
Congress granted the Pentagon authority last month to train the so-called moderate militants, a $500 million venture which would involve about 1,000 US troops being deployed to Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
About 2,300 US troops are also deployed to Iraq to assist the Iraqi Army in the fight against ISIL.
HRJ/HRJ
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