Saturday, December 10, 2016

DoD Head: US to Send 200 More Troops to Syria; Will Help Kurdish and Arab Fighters Retake Raqa

U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said today (December 10, 2016) that Washington will send another 200 troops to Syria to help an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters seize the Islamic State (IS) group bastion of Raqa, the AFP (Agence France-Presse) website reports.

They will join 300 U.S. special forces troops already deployed in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance in the drive on the jihadist stronghold it launched on November 5.

The operation coincides with a vast U.S.-backed offensive to retake Iraq's second largest city of Mosul from jihadists, forming a twin-pronged campaign intended to deliver a knockout blow to the Islamic "caliphate" they declared across Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The cities of Raqa and Mosul are the last major urban centers under Islamic State control, after the jihadists suffered a string of territorial losses in both countries over the past year.

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