How the Paris Attacks May Change the US Strategy Against ISIS
The French president said today that "France is at war."
— -- While France will ramp up its military attacks against ISIS in Syria as a result of the deadly terror attacks in Paris, it is likely that the U.S. will not increase the number of aircraft targeting ISIS or insert more troops into Iraq and Syria.
President Obama said as much in a news conference today in Turkey at the G20 Summit.
"We have the right strategy and we're going to see it through," said the president, who added that his senior civilian and military advisers have cautioned him that sending in large numbers of ground troops into Syria "would be a mistake."
The current strategy calls for using airstrikes to check ISIS's territorial advances in Iraq and Syria, training and working with the Iraqi military to retake ISIS territory inside Iraq and working with rebel groups in Syria that are already fighting ISIS.
There are 3,550 U.S. military personnel authorized to serve in Iraq and soon 50 U.S. special operations forces will serve in northeastern Syria working with rebel groups fighting ISIS, according to military officials.
French President Francois Hollande told the French Parliament today that "France is at war" labeling Friday night's attacks "acts of war." Hollande said what was needed was a focus on "destroying" ISIS and "we need more strikes and we're doing so."
On Sunday, France launched retaliatory airstrikes targeting against ISIS's de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. Using targeting information provided by the U.S. military, 10 French military aircraft dropped 20 bombs on an ISIS command center and training camp in Raqqa.
The French strikes were similar to those carried out by Jordan earlier this year following the execution by ISIS of a downed Jordanian pilot. This means that the French and Jordanians hit targets the U.S. had already targeted for airstrikes but were passed along to each country for retaliatory strikes.
Over the past 15 months coalition aircraft have already conducted more than 8,125 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, with U.S. aircraft conducting more than 6,353 of them.
Prior to the Paris attacks, Defense Secretary Ash Carter had already said that the U.S. was planning additional airstrikes to put more pressure on ISIS. Over the past month the U.S. has been targeting more of ISIS's oil operations seeking to make a dent in the revenue the terror group uses to fund its operations.
While Republican presidential candidates and members of Congress have advocated a larger American troop presence in Iraq and Syria, President Obama said today that is not what is needed.
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