US signals shift in Syria-Iraq campaign against Islamic State

Posted 2015-10-28 14:21 by Grunt Report

The US has indicated a shift in its campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria, including the use of direct ground raids.

Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said there would also be more air strikes against “high-value targets”.

Observers say his comments reflect acknowledgment of the lack of progress in defeating the militant group.

Separately, Iran says it is considering whether to attend international talks in Vienna this week on Syria’s war.

Earlier, the US said Iran – an ally of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad – was being invited to the talks for the first time.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said “Iran’s participation is under discussion”, Iranian news agencies reported.

Mr Carter’s comments, made to the Senate Armed Services Committee, come a week after US-Iraqi forces rescued dozens of hostages held by IS in Iraq.

Analysis by Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence correspondent

Russia’s intervention in Syria has changed the military and diplomatic dynamic in the crisis and left Washington struggling to catch up.

Whatever the inconsistencies in Moscow’s own policies, it has highlighted the deficiencies in Washington’s approach – not least the collapse of its ailing train-and-equip programme for Syria that was largely going nowhere.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter wants a more active US strategy, but this inevitably runs counter to the prevailing mood in the White House.

Barack Obama, after all, has cast his presidency as one that will withdraw US troops from foreign wars, not engage in new ones. There is talk of deploying a small number of Apache attack helicopters to Iraq.

That could involve hundreds of extra US personnel. But US success still requires effective local allies on the ground and they are in short supply.

“We won’t hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL or conducting such missions directly, whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground,” Mr Carter said, using an alternative acronym for IS.

“We expect to intensify our air campaign, including with additional US and coalition aircraft, to target ISIL with a higher and heavier rate of strikes,” he said.

“This will include more strikes against ISIL high-value targets as our intelligence improves.”