AFP, Washington :
Dozens of US special operations forces will arrive in Syria “very soon,” as promised by President Barack Obama’s administration, a senior official said Sunday.
The troops will have the task of organizing local forces battling the self-proclaimed Islamic State in northern Syria, according to special envoy Brett McGurk.
“They will be going in very soon,” McGurk told CBS television’s “Face the Nation” program.
In late October, Obama authorized no more than 50 special operations forces to deploy to northern Syria in a non-combatant, advisory role to help coordinate local ground troops and anti-IS coalition efforts.
It marks the first official deployment of US troops on the ground in Syria since an international coalition formed to counter the violent extremist group.
The US troops will assist an Arab-Kurd coalition that includes the main Syrian Kurdish militia the People’s Protection Units (YPG), Arab groups and Syriac Christians.
These local forces “have been doing a very successful operation,” McGurk said.
“This is focused on isolating the capital of ISIL in Raqqa.”
He said they have retaken about 1,100 square kilometers (435 square miles) in the last two weeks and killed about 300 IS fighters.
The US-led coalition aims to “suffocate and strangle them in the core” of IS in Iraq and Syria through multiple coordinated offensives, McGurk said.
The coalition is also trying to cut off access for IS to the Syrian border in order to cut off the main access route between Raqqa and the Iraqi city of Mosul, McGurk explained.
Meanwhile, trying to reassure a nation on edge, President Barack Obama said on Sunday the militant Islamic State (IS) group “cannot strike a mortal blow” against the US, and he warned that overreacting to the Paris attacks would play into extremists’ hands.
“We will destroy this terrorist organisation,” he vowed.
Ending a trip to Asia, Obama implored Americans not to let the spectre of terror cause them to compromise their values or change the way they live.
“We do not succumb to fear,” he said.
“The most powerful tool we have to fight ISIL is to say that we’re not afraid, to not elevate them, to somehow buy into their fantasy that they’re doing something important,” Obama said, using an acronym for the terrorist organisation.
Since IS militants killed 130 in France nine days ago, Obama’s strategy has come under repeated questioning.
He dismissed the group’s global prowess of IS and said, “They’re a bunch of killers with good social media”.
Rejecting the notion of an existential threat, Obama said IS “can’t beat us on the battlefield, so they try to terrorise us into being afraid”.
“I think it is absolutely vital for every country, every leader, to send a signal that the viciousness of a handful of killers does not stop the world from doing vital business,” Obama said.
The president and world leaders are set to gather in Paris next week for long-scheduled climate talks.
The White House has insisted there will be no change in plans. Obama also said there was an “increasing awareness” by Russian President Vladimir Putin that IS is Moscow’s gravest threat in the Middle East.
Dozens of US special operations forces will arrive in Syria “very soon,” as promised by President Barack Obama’s administration, a senior official said Sunday.
The troops will have the task of organizing local forces battling the self-proclaimed Islamic State in northern Syria, according to special envoy Brett McGurk.
“They will be going in very soon,” McGurk told CBS television’s “Face the Nation” program.
In late October, Obama authorized no more than 50 special operations forces to deploy to northern Syria in a non-combatant, advisory role to help coordinate local ground troops and anti-IS coalition efforts.
It marks the first official deployment of US troops on the ground in Syria since an international coalition formed to counter the violent extremist group.
The US troops will assist an Arab-Kurd coalition that includes the main Syrian Kurdish militia the People’s Protection Units (YPG), Arab groups and Syriac Christians.
These local forces “have been doing a very successful operation,” McGurk said.
“This is focused on isolating the capital of ISIL in Raqqa.”
He said they have retaken about 1,100 square kilometers (435 square miles) in the last two weeks and killed about 300 IS fighters.
The US-led coalition aims to “suffocate and strangle them in the core” of IS in Iraq and Syria through multiple coordinated offensives, McGurk said.
The coalition is also trying to cut off access for IS to the Syrian border in order to cut off the main access route between Raqqa and the Iraqi city of Mosul, McGurk explained.
Meanwhile, trying to reassure a nation on edge, President Barack Obama said on Sunday the militant Islamic State (IS) group “cannot strike a mortal blow” against the US, and he warned that overreacting to the Paris attacks would play into extremists’ hands.
“We will destroy this terrorist organisation,” he vowed.
Ending a trip to Asia, Obama implored Americans not to let the spectre of terror cause them to compromise their values or change the way they live.
“We do not succumb to fear,” he said.
“The most powerful tool we have to fight ISIL is to say that we’re not afraid, to not elevate them, to somehow buy into their fantasy that they’re doing something important,” Obama said, using an acronym for the terrorist organisation.
Since IS militants killed 130 in France nine days ago, Obama’s strategy has come under repeated questioning.
He dismissed the group’s global prowess of IS and said, “They’re a bunch of killers with good social media”.
Rejecting the notion of an existential threat, Obama said IS “can’t beat us on the battlefield, so they try to terrorise us into being afraid”.
“I think it is absolutely vital for every country, every leader, to send a signal that the viciousness of a handful of killers does not stop the world from doing vital business,” Obama said.
The president and world leaders are set to gather in Paris next week for long-scheduled climate talks.
The White House has insisted there will be no change in plans. Obama also said there was an “increasing awareness” by Russian President Vladimir Putin that IS is Moscow’s gravest threat in the Middle East.
