WASHINGTON -- The United States is sending an additional 400 troops to Syria to help prepare for the fight for Raqqa, the declared capital of the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate, U.S. officials said Thursday.
The increase, which includes a team of Army Rangers and a Marine artillery unit that already have arrived in the country, appears to represent a near-doubling of the number of U.S. troops in Syria.
The U.S. military had declined to say precisely how many troops it had deployed in the country. The formal troop cap for Syria is 503, but commanders have the authority to exceed that limit temporarily to meet military requirements.
The presence of the Rangers became apparent last weekend when they were seen driving around the northern Syrian town of Manbij in Stryker vehicles and armored Humvees. The Washington Post earlier reported the deployment of the Marine artillery battery.
"We are preparing logistical and fire support to enable a successful assault on Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of ISIS," said Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the U.S.-led command that is fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. He used an acronym to refer to the Islamic State.
"The exact numbers and locations of these forces are sensitive in order to protect our forces, but there will be approximately an additional 400 enabling forces deployed for a temporary period to enable our Syrian partnered forces to defeat ISIS in Raqqa," Dorrian added.
"Our indigenous partners in Syria face an entrenched foe and, like the Iraqis, will require additional support to enable them to fight and defeat ISIS in Raqqa," he said.
The mission of the additional troops will be to help Syrian fighters prepare for the offensive on Islamic State forces in Raqqa. They will provide artillery support, training and protection for improvised explosives, among other efforts, Dorrian said.
The decision to deploy artillery mimics the approach taken in Mosul, Iraq, where U.S. and French artillery have been supporting the Iraqi offensive to take the western half of the city.
In the case of Raqqa, the idea is that Syrian forces will do the bulk of the fighting on the ground but Americans will assist them by providing advisers as well as firepower.
The United States is carrying out airstrikes in Syria and has deployed surface-to-surface rockets in the northern part of the country. Before he left office, President Barack Obama approved the use of a small number of Apache attack helicopters, and they are expected to be part of the Raqqa operation, as well. Now, Marine artillery is being added to the mix.
President Donald Trump's administration, however, has yet to make clear which fighters will seize Raqqa. U.S. military commands favor a mixed force of Syrian Arabs and the Kurdish People's Protection Units militia. But Turkey has objected to arming the Kurds, a group it has denounced as terrorists.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will host a meeting in Washington later this month of nations in the U.S.-led global coalition to fight the Islamic State group, the State Department said Thursday.
Foreign ministers and senior officials from 68 nations and international organizations are invited for the two-day gathering starting March 22.
The meeting signals the Trump administration's intent to sustain U.S. leadership of the coalition, initiated in 2014 under the Obama administration. The Islamic State is under growing military pressure in Iraq and Syria.
It will be the first full meeting of the coalition since December 2014. The department said the goal is to accelerate international efforts to defeat the Islamic State in the remaining areas it holds in Iraq and Syria and to maximize pressure on its branches, affiliates and networks. The meeting also will address counterterror financing, messaging against the Islamic State and stabilization of areas liberated from the group, as well as the humanitarian crises caused by the conflict.
Pentagon leaders sent a new plan to defeat the militant group to the White House late last month. It outlined a strategy that likely would increase the number of U.S. troops in Syria to better advise and enable the U.S.-backed Syrian fighters.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Gordon of The New York Times and by Matthew Pennington of The Associated Press.
A Section on 03/10/2017