As the Pentagon prepares to send the president a plan next week to speed the defeat of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a top U.S. commander has indicated the more robust effort will require additional U.S. troops, especially in Syria.
Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, has told reporters traveling with him in the region that in Syria, where a loose coalition of Kurds and Arabs are slowly moving on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, the U.S. may have to “take on a larger burden,” according to reports by CBS and the New York Times.
President Trump has given the Pentagon 30 days to come up with a comprehensive plan to accelerate the fight against the Islamic State, and it’s due at the White House by Tuesday.
“I am very concerned about maintaining momentum,” said Votel, noting that the lightly armed Syrian fighters lack the heavy armor, artillery and air support the Iraqi army enjoys.
They “don’t have as good mobility, they don’t have as much firepower,” Votel told CBS. “So we have to be prepared to fill in some of those gaps for them and that may involve additional fire-support capability, a variety of other things that we bring in to help offset some of the gaps that they have.”
While officials indicate the number of U.S. boots on the ground will almost certainly increase, the overarching strategy, and the role of American forces in executing it, will not change.
“We’re working by, with and through the Iraqi Security Forces in Iraq and then our partners in Syria,” said Air Force Col. John Dorrian. “That fundamental principle isn’t going to change.”
The “by, with, and through” strategy is aimed at keeping U.S. advisers close enough to the fight to help local commanders and call in airstrikes, but far enough away from the “front, front lines,” to avoid being involved in direct combat.
In Iraq, for instance, U.S. advisers and forward air controllers remain with “command elements,” just behind the front lines.
“They are not doing the fighting for the Iraqis. They’re supporting the Iraqis as they do the fighting,” said Dorrian in briefing reporters at the Pentagon from his Baghdad headquarters.
To get an idea of what kind of conventional troops might be sent to Syria, one need look no further than the ongoing offensive against the Islamic State in Mosul.
The U.S. deployed a Marine unit operating a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and has been able to strike Islamic State positions in the city from miles away, to devastating effect.
“This is a capability with GPS-aided munitions that they’re really able to strike targets with a tremendous amount of accuracy and very little collateral damage,” Dorrian said. “It’s a key capability, something that is one of the accelerants that over the past several months has been brought in to Iraq.”
The U.S. could also send in Apache attack helicopters to provide additional air support and more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with forward air controllers to better coordinate airstrikes.
In his recent trip to Iraq, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis promised his top ground commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend that he would “accommodate any request from the field commanders.”
While some critics say it’s time to take the gloves off and give commanders more latitude to order more aggressive tactics, Townsend also said for now he sees no need to change the rules of engagement.
“I have all the authorities that I need to prosecute our fight and I’m confident if I were to need more, that my leadership would provide those.”
Officials say Townsend, Votel and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford have all provided their recommendations to Mattis, and that it will be up to President Trump to sign off on the new plan, which goes beyond military options, to include new diplomatic, financial and cyber initiatives.
