AhlulBayt News Agency - Gen. Joseph Votel, commanding general of U.S. Central Command, completed a secret several-hour-long trip to northern Syria to visit several locations where there are U.S. special operations forces and meet with local forces the U.S. is helping train to fight ISIS.
The visit to northern Syria occurred during a trip to other countries in the region. It comes amid an effort by the U.S. military to accelerate efforts to bring more local Arab and Kurdish forces into the fight in both Syria and Iraq to fight ISIS.
Votel is the highest-ranking U.S. military official to travel into Syria during its war. CNN has been asked to not disclose the exact location of the multiple places he visited. CNN also agreed to not disclose the intense security precautions, including how Votel flew into Syria.
The visit comes as the first of 250 additional U.S. special operations forces are beginning to arrive in Syria to work with local forces.
Since March 2011, the United States and its regional allies, in particular Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, have been conducting a proxy war against Syria.
The conflict has left more than 470,000 Syrians dead and half of the country’s population of about 23 million displaced within or beyond the Arab country’s borders.
In September 2014, the US and some of its allies started conducting airstrikes inside Syria against Daesh terrorists, many of whom were initially trained by the CIA to fight against the Syrian government. However, observers say the attacks did little damage to the terrorists; rather, they targeted the country’s infrastructure.
Washington has also deployed dozens of special forces to eastern Syria in what it claims is an effort to shore up local militant groups against Daesh.
In September of last year, Russia launched its own air offensive against the terrorists who were still wreaking havoc in Syria. The Russian campaign, analysts say, has broken the backbone of ISIL and other militants, and has provided the Assad government an opportunity to defeat the foreign-sponsored terrorist onslaught.
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