Presdient Obama has recently announced that the United States military will be sending an extra 250 troops to Syria. According to Obama, they will be involved in special operations as well as in training and assisting Syrian opposition forces to fight IS. However Russian state media, have been quick to question the legality of Obama’s announcement:
The move, which was first reported by the media, will once again contradict Obama’s 2013 promise of not putting any “American boots on the ground in Syria.”… Moreover, it was revealed in September that one group of trainees had surrendered one quarter of their US-supplied weapons, ammunition, and vehicles in exchange for safe passage through territory held by another rebel group affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
This boost to American ground force also raises legal concerns for Obama. An expansion of the US role highlights that America is in war against IS, which under the Constitution requires congressional authorization, which Obama has never received.
A good point is made about the need for proper scrutiny concerning which rebel groups the US is providing training and arms to (given how they almost ended up funding IS in the initial offensive against President Assad). It is also interesting to note how Obama’s narrative has shifted over the years from his intial opposition to military intervention. A more sympathetic approach to Obama’s decision can be found in the British Guardian, who portray the President as having had his hand forced on intervention by international events.
The president said he did not believe that Islamic State could be defeated in his remaining time in office, saying that he would seek instead to “slowly shrink the environment in which they operate”. Obama pledged to wind down wars in the Middle East when he was first elected in 2008. But in the latter part of his presidency, he has found it necessary to keep or add troops to help with conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
Another possible reason for the intervention could be that the US feels they need to consolidate their presence in Syria, given Russia’s increasing military influence in the region. A piece in the Washington Post explains the impact that Russian special forces are having in the ground war which beggars the question: is Obama trying to use the same effective miltary tactic or is he acting out of anxiety that Russia is increasing its miltary influence in Syria?
Unlike the majority of U.S. special forces that are currently advising Iraqi and Syrian forces from behind the lines at the battalion and brigade levels, Russian special forces appear to be participating in combat alongside Syrian troops at the tactical level.
The presence of Russian special forces and advisers on the front line has, in turn, helped Syrian troops and President Bashar al-Assad’s allies consolidate gains and take ground across the country. According to Kofman, Russian military advisers on the ground, despite the hype surrounding the detachment of Russian aircraft in the country, are the glue that is helping the Syrians fight as a much more capable army.
Obama’s announcement also drew swift condemnation from Iran, who are opposed to any miltary action which is not coordinated with the Assad regime. The state broadcaster Press TV explains their position:
“We have announced from the start of the Syria crisis that any foreign intervention in Syria without coordination with its government will further escalate the crisis,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Monday…
“Any dispatch of military forces must be carried out in coordination with the Syrian government,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi-Ansari told reporters in Tehran during a weekly news briefing.
Obama must be very careful of mission creep in Syria ,but I do agree with his argument that these extra troops will be required to defeat Islamic State. What also must be remembered in this conflict is that the hardest part is not defeating IS, but rebuilding Syria once the war is over. The country will require huge investment to restabilize society once the war eventually comes to a close, but in the meantime Obama has made the correct decision in sending more troops to Syria.
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