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UP FRONTSaturday 31 October 2015
Defense chief: U.S. will keep adjusting to Islamic State fight
ROBERT BURNS reporters flying with him Asked whether the use
AP National Security Writer to Fort Wainwright in Fair- of U.S. special operations
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) banks, Alaska, on the first troops in northern Syria to
— Defense Secretary Ash leg of a nine-day trip to the coordinate with local forc-
Carter said Friday the deci- Asia-Pacific region. es was a model that would
sion to send special opera- He added that the U.S. will be adopted in Iraq, Carter
tions forces to Syria to work soon beef up its air cam- said “we will continue to
with local Kurdish and Arab paign by sending F-15 fight- consider” this and other
fighters is unlikely to be the er planes to a Turkish air ways to achieve better re-
last significant adjustment base, giving the U.S. an op- sults against the militants,
to the U.S. fight against the portunity to accelerate air- who control large portions
resilient Islamic State group. strikes. A senior defense of- of Iraq and Syria.
“We are going to con- ficial said the U.S. will send Carter said the U.S. forces
tinue to innovate to build about a dozen of the F-15s in northern Syria will be
up what works,” he told to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base. in an area where Russian
warplanes are not bomb-
ing, so it would not be nec- Defense Secretary Ash Carter testifies on Capitol Hill in Washing-
essary to talk to the Rus- ton, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, before the Senate Armed Services
sians about steering clear. Committee.
The U.S. and Russia recent-
ly signed a memorandum Associated Press
of understanding to avoid
unintended conflicts be- The Syrian Arab coalition portant.” Raqqa is in Arab
tween their warplanes, is a U.S. term for a group territory south of the Kurdish
which are operating sepa- of about 5,000 Sunni Arab area.
rately in the skies over Syria. fighters. U.S. officials have said the
Carter declined to be spe- Carter added, “Both we U.S.-led coalition cam-
cific about where the U.S. and the Syrian Kurds see paign in Syria is now fo-
troops will operate in north- the great value of the Syr- cused on putting increased
ern Syria but said they will ian Arab coalition as the pressure on IS in Raqqa.
be in territory controlled by fact that they are Sunni Ar- That could in turn make it
Syrian Kurds. abs and therefore have an easier to fight IS in Iraq.
“However, the Kurdish YPG interest in driving ISIL from U.S. officials said Friday that
and the Syrian Arab co- Raqqa,” the militants’ de- as part of the plan, the U.S.
alition essentially work to- clared capital. “Moreover, is talking with the Iraqi gov-
gether to counter ISIL,” he they’ll be the kind of force ernment about setting up
said, referring to the main that is more likely to be ac- a commando task force to
Kurdish group fighting the cepted by the population better target Islamic State
Islamic State in an area of Raqqa, and that’s im- leaders and networks. q
near the Turkish border.
Clinton backs decision to send US
commandos into Syria
LISA LERER special operations person- a move the administration
Associated Press nel.” He added that Clin- opposes.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary ton also strongly “supports Clinton’s main challenger,
Rodham Clinton supports ongoing diplomatic efforts Vermont Sen. Bernie Sand-
the decision by President to end the conflict.” ers, said through a spokes-
Barack Obama to deploy But, he said, she opposes man that he has “concern
a small number of special the U.S. entering a larger about the United States be-
operations forces to north- ground war in the Middle ing drawn into the quag-
ern Syria to work with local East to combat the rise of mire of the Syrian civil war
ground forces in the fight Islamic militants. which could lead to per-
against Islamic State mili- As secretary of State, Clin- petual warfare in that re-
tants. ton advocated for a more gion.” Sanders reiterated in
Campaign spokesman aggressive U.S. role in the the statement that he be-
Nick Merrill said in a state- Syrian conflict. Earlier this lieves the “crisis in Syria will
ment that Clinton “sees month, she called for a be solved diplomatically,
merit in the targeted use of no-fly zone over the area, not militarily.”q
