Pentagon and State Department officials are set to propose increases in airstrikes against ISIS, more arms for Kurdish allies in Syria, and more commandos, officials told The Washington Times.
Such plans are in response to President Donald Trump's executive order Friday that called for a plan to defeat ISIS "within 30 days." One official directly involved in planning told The Times that the plans would ramp up actions already under way thanks to President Barack Obama's administration.
Moving weapons to the Kurdish forces without angering Turkey is a "main sticking point," one official said to The Times. The Kurdish militia that the U.S. is working with in Syria is a terrorist group, according to Turkey.
Proposals include looking at increasing the number of civilian casualties that would be "acceptable" in an officially authorized airstrike, which would give U.S. commanders more leeway in calling for the air attacks.
Reviving an Obama administration plan to work with Russians on Syrian airstrikes is also on the table, officials told The Times.
Sending more weapons to the Kurds was in the works before Trump's order, a senior Pentagon official told The Times. "I would not necessarily tie this to the 30-day review," the official said.
Defeating ISIS must be a priority, officials said.
"If you think about the root causes of the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East today, obviously, ISIS was a major if not predominant factor in a lot of that. You see the genocide of Yazidis and Christians and Kurds and many other groups," one senior White House official told The Times.
The fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria could be hindered by Trump's travel ban, according to a Wednesday report in The Hill.
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