President Barack Obama announced Monday that U.S. special operations will not be "on the front lines" in Syria in the fight against ISIS militants. Speaking for the first time about the subject since his decision to send a small group of special operations forces to Syria, he denied the notion that the new deployment violates his prior pledge not to put "boots on the ground" in Syria to fight ISIS, according to the United Press International.
"We are not putting U.S. troops on the front lines fighting firefights with ISIL," said Obama during an interview with NBC's "Nightly News."
"I've been consistent throughout that we are not going to be fighting, like we did in Iraq, with battalions and occupations," he added. "That doesn't solve the problem."
This recent decision is seen by many as an answer to Russia's bombing campaign, whose goal is to remove rebels who oppose President Bashar al-Assad and keep him in power, reported the Hill. Fewer than 50 troops will help train, advise and assist local forces fighting the Islamic extremist group on the ground, said the White House.
American forces will remain in Syria for an undefined amount of time, and the White House has not ruled out sending more if they are successful in helping make gains on ISIS-held territory.
Obama, however, denied the move amounted to a change in the administration's strategy in Syria, noting that the U.S. had run special operations missions in the war-torn country in the past, according to the Washington Times.
"Keep in mind that we have run special ops already and really this is just an extension of what we are continuing to do," said Obama.
