Washington is ready to send reinforcements for about fifty members of special forces deployed in northern Syria and a special forces unit in Iraq for operations against the Islamic State, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said today.
In Syria, "where we find new opportunities to strengthen" the group of special forces already on the ground, we will be ready to do so, Carter said in an address to the House Armed Services Committee in Washington.
In Iraq, the US is sending "a specialized unit to help Iraqi forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga" carry out attacks on the ground against the Islamic State, Carter added. He said this is being done in agreement with the Iraqi government.
American forces will be able to conduct "unilateral operations" in Syria.
Carter said US special forces would be able to carry out raids, free hostages and capture Islamic State leaders.
An international coalition of 65 countries led by the US is conducting a campaign of airstrikes against extremists in both Syria and Iraq. The Islamic State seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014.
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