国际英语新闻:US Orders Special Operations Forces to Syria

The U.S. is also increasing its air power over Syria, sending more warplanes to NATO's Incirlik Airbase in Turkey.

“We are looking at some increases to the capabilities at Incirlik,” General Philip Breedlove, the top military officer at NATO and the commander of U.S. European Command, told reporters Friday at the Pentagon ahead of the White House announcement.

While details are still being discussed, the additions at Incirlik will “provide some increased support” to the anti-IS mission, according to Breedlove.

A senior defense official said 12 A-10 warplanes have already arrived at Incirlik, with the hope of adding about a dozen F-15 warplanes there. The goal is to “thicken air operations in northern Syria” with more planes and more intelligence assets developing targets, she said.

Members of the IS extremist group have become infamous for their beheadings and other brutal tactics aimed at indiscriminate targets, including other Muslims who do not share their beliefs. The group's leaders have said their intent is to establish an Islamic "caliphate" and to maximize the territory it controls in the Middle East.

Iraq task force

Reporters at the White House were told that President Barack Obama additionally approved consultations with Iraqi leaders to establish a special operations task force to bolster efforts aimed at defeating IS leaders and networks.

The move will first require Iraqi approval and will not be considered a “serious enhancement,” according to a senior defense official.

The official said the U.S. is also increasing assistance in Iraq through combined arms training, breaching training and providing counter-IED (improvised explosive device) equipment to Iraqi forces.

'Good progress' vs ‘dangerous downward slope’

The White House said the U.S. has made "good progress" in Iraq and Syria when working closely with effective partners on the ground, and now has enhanced its ability to partner with those forces.

As the United States increases its military effort against Islamic State, officials stressed that increased diplomatic efforts also are underway to reach a political solution in Syria — including the current multinational talks in Vienna, where Secretary of State John Kerry has been meeting with diplomats from Iran and Russia, the two main allies of Assad.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans criticized Friday’s decision to send 50 U.S. troops into Syria.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the decision was a big shift in policy that could place the U.S. on a “potentially dangerous downward slope into a civil war with no end in sight.''

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the move an “insufficient step.”

“Such grudging incrementalism is woefully inadequate to the scale of the challenge we face,” McCain said.