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View Full Version : US plans for Syria include another 1,000 troops



Peter1469
03-16-2017, 04:21 PM
US plans for Syria include another 1,000 troops (https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/03/16/US-plans-for-Syria-include-another-1-000-troops.html?utm_source=World+Affairs+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a84cb3484c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_03_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f83b38c5c7-a84cb3484c-294709645)

Al Arabiya reports that the US may send another 1,000 troops into Syria. The troops would come from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division.


Up to 1,000 additional US troops could deploy to northern Syria under provisional plans drawn up by the Pentagon, a US defense official said on Wednesday.

The plans, which still need to be approved by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, would mark a significant uptick in US boots on the ground in Syria as part of the fight against ISIS.


Currently, the troop level is capped at 500 in Syria, but that number has become increasingly meaningless as commanders flow extra “temporary” forces in as needed –such as last week’s deployment of a Marine artillery battery near Raqa.


The actual number of American troops in the war-torn country is likely now between 800 and 900, and a US defense official said the new plans would allow for up to 1,000 more. “That’s one of the proposals that’s on the table for discussion,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Will this lead to mission creep? I hope not. Just remember Colin Powell was wrong when he said if you break it you own it. That is bull crap. And that causes mission creep.