War on ISIS Raging in Syria
Putin has shamed Obama in to acting on ISIS, the United States is considering sending a small number of special operations forces to Syria and attack helicopters to Iraq as it weighs options to build momentum in the battle against Islamic State, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
Obama’s administration is under pressure to ramp up America’s effort, particularly after the fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi to Islamic State in May and the failure of a U.S. military program to train and arm thousands of Syrian rebels.
The deliberations come as the United States looks to Syrian opposition fighters it supports to put pressure on Raqqa, the Islamic State’s stronghold, and for Iraqi forces to retake Ramadi after the city fell to the militants earlier this year.
The options appeared to stop short of deploying American troops in any direct ground combat roles, something Obama has so far ruled out.
Here’s how Putin might achieve his ideal outcome in Syria.
To start, a key strength of Russia’s Syrian military strategy is its simplicity. Today the Russian bombing campaign seeks only to stabilize the Syrian regime’s lines around the key corridor running north from Damascus through Homs and Hama. This approach provides breathing space for Assad, and allows his regime to implement its long-mooted Plan B — a rump state centered on the Alawite heartland along the Mediterranean coast. While it’s unclear whether the Assad regime can re-conquer large portions of Syria, the rebels are now on the defensive and the regime has stopped losing crucial pieces of territory.
The United States’ strategy, by contrast, remains much more convoluted. President Barack Obama both demands that “Assad must go,” while also vowing to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State. To date, though, the United States has been unwilling to commit the necessary military forces to achieve either of these goals. Not surprisingly, Assad continues to cling to power while Islamic State controls large chunks of both Syria and Iraq.
Putin’s desire to reassert Russia’s influence in the Middle East appears to be bearing fruit already. By summoning Assad to Moscow on Oct. 20, Putin made clear that Russia now runs the show in Syria. Indeed, the reported use of a Russian military plane to secretly transport Assad to Moscow demonstrates Assad’s total dependence on Russia, not just militarily, but for his personal safety as well. By all indications Assad is painfully aware of this dynamic — and Putin surely is, too.
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