21st Century Wire says…
While the US media continues to lead the public up the garden path by allocating all of its coverage for Obamacare news, the US is quietly ramping-up its forces in the Middle East as the Pentagon quietly positions its assets on the ground in Syria – in preparation for the grand battle to “defeat ISIS.”
Besides the western media’s near blackout of recent US Ranger and Marine deployments on the ground in Syria, what should also worry the public is how the amount of political pressure currently on the embattled Trump White House – might be influencing this Administration’s desire to show “a win” militarily in Syria.
Military officials spoke to Reuters this week, confirming that rapidly deployable forces in Kuwait are in fact in position as part of an operation to oust ISIS from Raqqa.
Already, for months now, several hundred ‘Special Operations’ troops have been embedded with local Kurdish forces.
According to the Pentagon reports, at least 6,000 US troops (not including covert operations and private military contractors, possibly an additional 1,000 operatives) are currently operating in both Iraq and Syria.
Watch this raw video of one regiment of US troops who arrived in Syria this week:
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Regarding the US Marines who arrived this week in Syria, the Washington Post confirms: “The force is part of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which left San Diego on Navy ships in October. The Marines on the ground include part of an artillery battery that can fire powerful 155-millimeter shells from M-777 Howitzers, two officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deployment.”
How long until other US NATO allies also arrive with more troops and military assets in Syria?
The big risk here could be that the rush to war might be ill-conceived, not to mention completely illegal under international law – considering the United States still refuses to open any dialogue with the sovereign nation state of Syria.
In a recent article, 21WIRE’s Patrick Henningsen has commented in detail already about the apparent lack of coordination and competing agenda between the US, Turkey, Syria and Russia in northern Syria, including the potential for in-fighting between Coalition forces and their proxies.
Meanwhile, the US-led Coalition continues to impose punitive sanctions against Syria, while US allies continue to arm and support numerous radical Wahabi terrorist militant groups who are still destablizing Syria and terrorizing its residents.
Expect more assets to be deployed in the coming days and weeks – and more silence from the media…
Army Times
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is sending an additional 2,500 ground combat troops to a staging base in Kuwait from which they could be called upon to back up coalition forces battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The deployment will include elements of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, which is based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. About 1,700 soldiers from the same unit are overseas now, spread between Iraq and Kuwait. They’re focused on the U.S.-led effort to train and assist the Iraqi troops doing much of the fighting against ISIS there.
These new personnel, however, will be “postured there to do all things Mosul, Raqqa, all in between,” Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, the Army’s deputy chief of staff for operations, told House lawmakers Wednesday. He was referring to the Islamic State’s two main strongholds: Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, major urban centers where U.S.-back allies are fighting a well entrenched enemy.
“So the whole brigade will now be forward,” Anderson said.
(…) “There are a number of options under consideration as the coalition looks for ways to accelerate the defeat of ISIS,” it says. “We continue to believe that the most effective way to achieve a lasting victory is to do it by, with and through our partner forces who have the greatest stake in the outcome. For operational security reasons, we will not discuss future deployments or contingency operational planning.”…
Continue this story at Army Times
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