Confronted with news photographs and video showing U.S. special operations troops embedded with Syrian Democratic Forces and moving south with them toward the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, the Pentagon Thursday insisted the U.S. troops were not on the front lines.
Spokesman Peter Cook, in a series of contentious exchanges with Pentagon reporters, struggled to explain why the photos did not show U.S. forces on what’s known as the “forward line of troops.”
“They are not on the forward line. They are providing advice and assistance,” Cook said. “That mission has not changed; their role has not changed. They are not leading this fight. They are supporting those forces that are at the leading edge of this fight.”
The question is: How close is the “leading edge” to the “bleeding edge?”
The Pentagon has consistently said the U.S. special operators are only advising and assisting the Syrian rebels, not accompanying them into battle.
Yet Agence-France Presse published photographs Thursday showing what it described as “armed men identified by Syrian Democratic Forces as U.S. special operations forces” riding in the back of a pickup truck in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa.
The AFP report said one of its photographers observed American soldiers climbing onto a low rooftop carrying U.S.-made anti-tank missiles, and was told by a Syrian Democratic Forces commander identified as Hawkar Kobane that “U.S. forces are taking part in this operation” alongside his own troops.
“On the rooftop of this house, there are U.S. forces using (anti-tank) TOW missiles to fire on the explosives-rigged cars that Daesh (Islamic State) is using to attack the SDF,” he is quoted as saying.
Asked why U.S. troops are seen wearing the distinctive yellow and green shoulder patches of the Kurdish YPG militia, Cook said it was just an effort to blend in.
“I’m not going to comment about specific photos,” he said. “What I will say is that special operations forces, when they operate in certain areas, do what they can to, if you will, blend in with the community to enhance their own protection, their own security.”
Cook also acknowledged that in an active war zone, the precise location of the front lines is not always clear. “I don’t have a yardstick measurement for you. And again, this is a fluid situation where the forward line of troops can be moving.”
