This past weekend, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced he was dispatching some 200 additional U.S. special operations forces to Syria, a move he called “another important step in enabling our partners to deal ISIL a lasting defeat.”
“I can tell you today that the United States will deploy approximately 200 additional U.S. forces to Syria, including special operations forces trainers, advisers and explosive ordnance disposal teams,” he said in Bahrain. These uniquely skilled operators will join the 300 U.S. special operations forces already in Syria, to continue organizing, training, equipping, and otherwise enabling capable, motivated, local forces to take the fight to ISIL, and are also bringing down the full weight of U.S. forces around the theater of operations like the funnel of a giant tornado.
