Posted on Nov 27, 2015
US Troops Arrive in Syria to 'Train' Rebels. Opinions?
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First US soldiers arrive in Kobane (controlled by our long time friends, the Kurds). Russian news sites are eating this up after Obama said he wouldn't put boots on the ground. Some people say the window of opportunity has already passed. I say the US can still make a big difference if we go in with a clear mission statement and a clear exit strategy. If we don't go in with that mindset, then we will be in for another long one. Check out the link for more information.
BEIRUT: U.S. soldiers are in Kobani, the town in northern Syria nearly destroyed in fierce fighting with ISIS, to train Kurdish forces to battle the extremists, Kurdish sources said Thursday.
Mustapha Abdi, an activist in the town on the Turkish border, told AFP the American instructors had arrived "in recent hours" in what is the first official deployment of U.S. ground troops in Syria.
A source with the Kurdish People's Protection Units said the Americans would help plan offensives on two Syrian cities held by ISIS -- Jarablus and the extremists' Syrian "capital", Raqqa.
At the same time, they would have a role in coordinating with the Kurds and their Arab and Syriac Christian allies on the ground airstrikes on ISIS by the U.S.-led coalition, the YPG source said.
Abdi said that the troops who had arrived were a "first group of instructors" who would train the Kurds.
There was no immediate information on how many of them had arrived or to what branch, or branches, of the military they belong.
The news comes after Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama's special envoy to the coalition, said Sunday that U.S. forces would be arriving on the ground "very soon".
At the end of October, Obama authorized the deployment of 50 special operations troops to Syria, and McGurk said their job would be to "organise" local forces.
A key objective will be to "isolate" Raqqa, he said.
The alliance of local fighters has already retaken more than 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) from ISIS and killed around 300 ISIS fighters, McGurk said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Nov-26/324765-us-soldiers-in-syria-to-back-anti-isis-kurds-kurdish-sources.ashx
BEIRUT: U.S. soldiers are in Kobani, the town in northern Syria nearly destroyed in fierce fighting with ISIS, to train Kurdish forces to battle the extremists, Kurdish sources said Thursday.
Mustapha Abdi, an activist in the town on the Turkish border, told AFP the American instructors had arrived "in recent hours" in what is the first official deployment of U.S. ground troops in Syria.
A source with the Kurdish People's Protection Units said the Americans would help plan offensives on two Syrian cities held by ISIS -- Jarablus and the extremists' Syrian "capital", Raqqa.
At the same time, they would have a role in coordinating with the Kurds and their Arab and Syriac Christian allies on the ground airstrikes on ISIS by the U.S.-led coalition, the YPG source said.
Abdi said that the troops who had arrived were a "first group of instructors" who would train the Kurds.
There was no immediate information on how many of them had arrived or to what branch, or branches, of the military they belong.
The news comes after Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama's special envoy to the coalition, said Sunday that U.S. forces would be arriving on the ground "very soon".
At the end of October, Obama authorized the deployment of 50 special operations troops to Syria, and McGurk said their job would be to "organise" local forces.
A key objective will be to "isolate" Raqqa, he said.
The alliance of local fighters has already retaken more than 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) from ISIS and killed around 300 ISIS fighters, McGurk said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Nov-26/324765-us-soldiers-in-syria-to-back-anti-isis-kurds-kurdish-sources.ashx
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Posted >1 y ago
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SSG (Join to see)
Definitely not. They've been on the decline since 2013 when other rebel factions felt emboldened after Obama refused to deliver the help he said he would give the FSA.
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If we are training the [peshmerga or another Kurdish group which has proved itself in the fight against ISIS then this is a good thing SSG (Join to see). The Kurds and peshmerga have sided with us since we operated the northern no-fly zone after Desert Storm.
They have proven to be indomitable and true allies unlike the Syrian and Iraqi groups which have shifted sides periodically.
They have proven to be indomitable and true allies unlike the Syrian and Iraqi groups which have shifted sides periodically.
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LTC Stephen F.
SSG (Join to see) - Yes I would support an independent Kurdistan,
Since the breakup of the Ottoman Turkish Empire after WWI IAW the Balfour declaration created Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc. Armenia was created since the Turks slaughtered so many of them in the genocidal attempts to eliminate them.
I strongly support an independent Kurdistan with pieces of Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria used to form the state along the lines where Kurdistan and the Kurds used to live.
Since the breakup of the Ottoman Turkish Empire after WWI IAW the Balfour declaration created Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc. Armenia was created since the Turks slaughtered so many of them in the genocidal attempts to eliminate them.
I strongly support an independent Kurdistan with pieces of Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria used to form the state along the lines where Kurdistan and the Kurds used to live.
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SSG (Join to see)
LTC Stephen F. I think much of the Mid East needs its borders redrawn. It doesn't look like there was too much thought put into them at first.
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SPC Steven Depuy
Anything we can do to help the Kurds is OK with me. The rest of whats going on there, not so much. We have no place in the century old Shia/Sunni death match over who Muhammad's replacement should have been. But the Kurds, yeah, help them out.
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Sp4. Byron Skinner. Kobane is a rather interesting place according to Central Command Daily BDA the city of Kobane has been hit by US air strikes daily since last Fall (2014) When the Islamic State took the city. This is the battle where al Baghdadi's 10 year old son was killed fighting side by side with his father. Of course every body but the CIA and the DNA know that al Bagadadi was assented a years ago this month in Mosul where he was to attend a meeting along with daash Leadership and they did a Shakespeare Julius Caesar number on him. Al Baghdadi's barely living body was drug tied to the bumper of a Toyota SUV to a clearing where he took a direct hit from a AIM 114 Hellfire from a drone. There wasn't enough left of al Baghdadi's body for the CIA to get a finger for positive ID. The balk of Islamist State fight fighters departed Kobane in January. Since the then Kurds have been fighting a small number of stay behinds and their own shadows.
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