Around 200 U.S. Marines have been recently deployed to northern Syria, bringing the total number of U.S. troops in the country to over 700.
The Marines’ deployment aims to aid the opposition’s fight against the ISIS there.
This increase is shifting the United States from working quietly behind the scenes in Syria’s conflict.
The latest deployment widens America’s footprint on a highly toxic battlefield, with U.S. credibility and prestige on the line.
The Marines’ deployment came just days after an intervention by U.S. forces.
Dozens of army troops, riding Stryker armoured vehicles and waving American flags, drove outside the Syrian town of Manbij in a mission aimed at keeping U.S. allies Turkey and Syrian Kurds from fighting each other and focused instead on the fight against IS.
After months of preparations, U.S.-backed Syrian forces are getting closer to launching an all-out assault on the ISIS’s de facto capital, Raqqa, in northern Syria.
(AP)
