[CBS] MANAMA, Bahrain -- U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday that as many as 200 more American troops are being sent to Syria to help Kurdish and Arab fighters capture the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s key stronghold of Raqqa.
The extra troops will include special operations forces and are in addition to 300 U.S. troops already authorized for the effort to recruit, organize, train and advise local Syrian forces to combat ISIS.
Addressing a security conference in Bahrain, Carter said the aim is to create, along with America’s Middle East allies, a tornado of pressure on ISIS’ Raqqa headquarters, CBS Radio News’ Larry Miller reports.
"The United States has interests here that it cannot walk away from," Carter said.
Carter also took gentle jabs at U.S. Middle East partners for failing to provide more military muscle in the broader campaign to defeat ISIS and counter extremism. |