US military on ground in Syria is major policy shift

With Afghanistan and Iraq as his points of reference, President Barack Obama has been unyielding in his refusal to deploy American ground troops to civil-war stricken Syria.

Indeed, Obama has remained steadfast even while the death toll in Syria has surpassed 250,000, and more than 11 million Syrians have been uprooted.

The refugee crisis throughout Europe is a direct result of President Bashar al-Assad’s campaign of death and destruction against Sunni rebel forces seeking to overthrow his government.

That campaign is largely responsible for Sunni radicals from all over the world joining the militant group Islamic State that has made its presence felt in Syria and Iraq.

Islamic State controls a large territory in northern Syria, and the terrorist organization has held on despite an aggressive bombing campaign by the U.S. While as many as 12,000 militants have been killed, IS ranks are being replenished by foreign fighters and others.

Russia and Iran have risen to al- Assad’s defense, with Russian fighter jets conducting full-fledged bombing campaigns against IS strongholds. Russia also has provided weaponry, training and military advisers, while Iran is propping up the al-Assad regime with money and other assistance.

Thus, President Obama’s decision last week to deploy 50 special operations troops to assist Kurdish and Arab forces in northern Syria should be seen as a response to what the Russians and Iranians are doing.

White House officials insist that the deployment should not be interpreted as an escalation of America’s direct involvement in the civil war. They say the new U.S. forces will work from headquarters locations and would not move to the front lines or be used to call in airstrikes.

According to an Associated Press story, the U.S. has conducted special operations raids into Syria before and will continue to do more unilateral raids.

It helped Iraqi forces rescue hostages recently, and Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed, the first U.S. combat death in that country since 2011, the wire service reported.

The AP quoted White House spokesman Josh Earnest as saying the new troops will not be used on a “combat mission.” However, Earnest acknowledged that the Americans would face serious risk but reiterated that their mission will “not be to lead the charge to take the hill.”

MISSION-CREEP WORRIES

Obama administration officials are well aware that the American people are worried about mission creep, given what occurred in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. Indeed, Obama has made the withdrawal of American troops from the two countries a centerpiece of his foreign policy. The thousands of American deaths, the hundreds of thousands of injured and the expenditure of more than $1 trillion on a venture that many in this country now believe was a mistake have influenced the president’s thinking.

Hence, his refusal to send in ground troops as Syrian President al-Assad continues his campaign of death and destruction against his people and dismisses any talk about his stepping aside so the country can return to some semblance of political stablility.

But the direct involvement by Russia and Iran, designed to prop up al-Assad, and the takeover by Islamic State of large swaths of the country, have changed the dynamic of the civil war.

In fact, diplomats representing 17 countries, including the United States and the European Union, have launched a broad new peace attempt.

The goal is to end Syria’s long civil war, but the thorny issue of al-Assad’s future remains unresolved.

The U.S. and its allies have made it clear that the Syrian president’s continued presence in Damascus will not only keep the civil war going, but will give Islamic State the impetus to expand its presence in the country.

Russia and Iran, however, remain firm in their support of al-Assad and say that the rebels must first give up their quest to topple the regime before there can be any discussion about his departure.

After four years, the situation in Syria is just as dangerous and uncertain as it was when the civil war began.

President Obama must take care not to let the U.S. be drawn into a conflict that could easily escalate into another Afghanistan or Iraq.