OBAMA DEPLOYS SPECIAL FORCES TO SYRIA

The United States have announced the deployment of 50 special forces Personnel to Syria in the war against ISIS, the state department announced Thursday. This is a clear departure from the Administration's position of "No boots on the ground" in Syria. According to the White House, the Pentagon has also been “consulting” with the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, to establish a special operations taskforce to fight Isis “leaders and networks” across the Syrian border in Iraq, a senior administration official told the Guardian on Friday.

But the White House insisted that its overall strategy to combat Isis remained the same and said the special forces troops would be helping coordinate local ground forces in the north of the country and other non-specified “coalition efforts” to counter Isis rather than engaging in major ground operations.

“The decision the president has made is to further intensify our support for our forces who have made progress against Isis,” the White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said at a news conference.