U.S. to send 200 more troops to fight ISIS in Syria

Western special forces near Raqqa, Syria

(Image credit: Delil Souleiman/Getty Images)

published 10 December 2016

The United States will send an additional 200 troops to Syria, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday while speaking in Manama, Bahrain, bringing the total known number of American soldiers in the war-torn country to 500.

The new forces will head to Raqqa, the Islamic State's de facto capital city, where they will bring "the full weight of U.S. forces around the theater of operations, like the funnel of a giant tornado," Carter said. "By combining our capabilities with those of our local partners, we've been squeezing [ISIS] by applying simultaneous pressure from all sides and across domains, through a series of deliberate actions to continue to build momentum," he continued.

Congress has yet to pass an authorization for use of military force (AUMF) in Syria, a point which has been largely ignored in Washington since a bipartisan push for an AUMF failed last year when American special forces were first sent to Syria. "The Administration's announcement that it will deploy Special Operations Forces into Syria to combat [ISIS] marks a major shift in U.S. policy," said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) at the time, arguing that the Constitution's "War Powers Resolution requires Congress to debate and authorize the escalation of U.S. military involvement in Syria."