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US deploys dozens of ground troops to Syria

US Special Operations Forces (file photo)

The United States has deployed dozens of ground troops to Syria claiming they will assist Kurdish forces in their battle against Daesh (ISIL) terrorists, sources say.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday that 30 US soldiers arrived in the northern city of Kobani over the past two days, AFP reported.

The troops will allegedly help plan attacks against the Takfiris in the two Syrian cities of Jarablus and Raqqah.

Kurdish sources also announced that some 20 US soldiers arrived in Hasakeh province in eastern Syria.

On October 30, senior Obama administration officials said that Washington would send some 50 special forces to Syria to "train, advise and assist" militants fighting against the Daesh, in an apparent breach of Obama's promise not to put US “boots on the ground" there.

A top official told the BBC that this does not indicate a change in US strategy, but an "intensification" of the military campaign.

The presence of US troops on the ground in Syria lacks any mandate from the Syrian government. Damascus says it is a violation of its sovereignty.

The US is escalating its involvement in Syria amid Russia’s intensifying campaign in the country to assist President Bashar al-Assad in fighting against ISIL terrorists. The US forces will remain in Syria for the foreseeable future.

On September 30, Russia began its military campaign against Daesh terrorists and militants fighting against the Syrian government. Moscow has carried out scores of airstrikes, killing hundreds of terrorists. 

US officials have told The Associated Press that Russia has directed parts of its military campaign against US-backed militants and other extremist groups in an effort to weaken them.

They say the CIA-trained militants are under Russian strikes with little prospect of rescue by their American supporters.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The crisis has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people so far and displaced millions of others.


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