America is more entrenched in Syria than you may realize

A U.S. convoy in Syria.
(Image credit: DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The Trump administration has quietly escalated American entrenchment in Syria, BuzzFeed News reports, particularly in the fight to oust the Islamic State from its de facto capital of Raqqa. This entails closer cooperation with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and allied Kurdish fighters, as well as the establishment of "a semipermanent diplomatic presence close to the northern Syrian city of Kobane."

Though U.S. military intervention in Syria's kaleidoscopic conflict began under former President Barack Obama, President Trump's tenure has substantially built on that base. Now, "[w]hen the SDF fighters get into trouble or need help to pave the way, they call in U.S. airstrikes and artillery fire," the BuzzFeed report notes. "And when the U.S. forces see an opportunity to strike, they do so, before alerting Syrian fighters on the ground to move in. Acting in part on the recommendations of the outgoing Obama administration, the U.S. has also expanded the flow of weapons and ammunition to the SDF."

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.