Page 3 - ATD 31OCT2015
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U.S. NEWS A3
Saturday 31 October 2015
U.S. escalates involvement in Syria BRADLEY KLAPPER
Continued from front suburb of Douma. Carter declined to be spe- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and U.S. Secretary
In Washington, officials cific about where the U.S. of State John Kerry, arrive for a press conference after a meeting
Any cease-fire agreement said the new U.S. forces will troops will operate in north- in Vienna, Austria, Friday, Oct 30, 2015.
that may come as a result work from headquarters lo- ern Syria but said they will
of the peace effort would cations and won’t move to be in territory controlled by Associated Press
not include the Islamic the front lines or be used to Syrian Kurds.
State, which controls large call in airstrikes. However, “However, the Kurdish YPG hope is an endgame for vals Iran and Saudi Arabia
parts of northern Syria and the U.S. has conducted and the Syrian Arab co- Assad’s reign. — each pledged to sup-
has its capital there. special operations raids alition essentially work to- At a joint news conference port an independent and
But the participation by into Syria before now and gether to counter ISIL,” he with Russia’s top diplomat secular Syria, to maintain
Russia and Iran in the will continue to do more said. and the U.N. envoy to Syria, the country’s institutions, to
attempt could mark unilateral raids. It helped In Vienna on Friday, the U.S. Secretary of State John protect the rights of all Syr-
a new and promising Iraqi forces rescue hostag- U.S., Russia and more Kerry said the countries — ians and to strive to defeat
phase in the diplomacy es last week, and Master than a dozen other na- including fierce regional ri- the Islamic State.q
since those countries have Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was tions directed the U.N.
staunchly backed Assad. killed, the first U.S. combat to start anew diplomatic
The White House has long death in that country since process between Syria’s
said that Assad’s ouster 2011. government and opposi-
is essential to its ultimate White House spokes- tion groups with the goal
goal of defeating the Is- man Josh Earnest said of reaching a nationwide
lamic State because the the new troops will not be cease-fire and political
Syrian president’s brutal on a “combat mission.” transition — but without an
tactics against Sunni rebels “There’s no denying the explicit demand for Assad
have drawn Sunni radicals serious risk they will be fac- to quickly leave power.
from all over the world into ing,” Earnest said, but their American officials say
the militant group’s ranks. mission will “not be to lead the talks marked a signifi-
The Syrian civil war has the charge to take the hill.” cant new phase, one they
killed more than 250,000 Russia and Syria are con-
people and uprooted ducting airstrikes in the
more than 11 million, spark- country, but Earnest said it
ing a refugee crisis through- was unlikely the U.S. troops
out Europe. would be at risk because
Despite killing as many as Russia has not bombed in
12,000 militants, the U.S. the area where they will
bombing campaign has be.
not significantly weakened On Capitol Hill, some law-
the Islamic State’s capac- makers greeted the troop
ity to hold territory, and the announcement with dis-
group’s ranks have been may.
replenished by foreign It “marks a major shift in U.S.
fighters and others. policy — a shift that is oc-
Military experts say ground curring without congressio-
troops are essential for the nal debate (and) is unlikely
fight. A U.S. program to train to succeed in achieving
Syrians was abandoned as our objective of defeating
a failure, and the new de- IS,” said Sen. Brian Schatz.
ployment essentially would On the other hand, Sen.
replace that program. John McCain, chairman of
Speaking to reporters flying the Armed Services Com-
with him on an overseas mittee, said the decision
trip, Defense Secretary was “another insufficient
Ash Carter said this would step in the Obama admin-
probably not be the last istration’s policy of gradual
significant adjustment to escalation.”
the anti-IS military cam- One of the groups the U.S.
paign in Syria and Iraq. troops will be working with
“We are going to continue is a Kurdish militia known as
to innovate, to build up the YPG, which could pose
what works,” he said. a political problem for the
Friday’s developments United States.
came as missiles slammed The YPG was accused of
into a crowded suburb war crimes in a recent re-
of the Syrian capital. The port by Amnesty Interna-
attack killed at least 40 tional, which documented
people, activists said. The allegations that the group
Syrian Observatory for Hu- forcibly displaced Arabs
man Rights and the Local and Turkmen and burned
Coordination Committees down villages perceived
group said government as cooperating with its op-
forces fired more than 11 ponents. The group has
missiles at a market in the denied the allegations and
the State Department says
it is looking into them.
