The increased support comes after weeks of US military and diplomatic talks with Turkish counterparts, and Russian airstrikes backing the Turkish offensive.
US support to ground troops, including airstrikes and equipment in addition to surveillance, would be similar to what the United States now provides to Syrian groups battling the terrorists, potentially including assistance from Special Operations advisers whose participation in the offensive has thus far been limited to an area inside the Syrian border about 10 miles north of al-Bab, according to administration and defense officials.
US strikes over al-Bab would require an intensive effort to de-conflict American flights with those of Turkey and Russia, whose forces are also bombing there. “Flying anywhere in Syria is complicated. Flying up in that area where everyone seems to be flying would require some work,” one defense official said. “I wouldn’t say we aren’t worried about it.”
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, were not authorized to discuss the operations.
Decisions to increase support come as the Obama administration is also in the final stages of weighing direct weapons shipments to US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces moving toward ISIS’ de facto capital of Raqqa.
Turkey, which considers the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, a terrorist group allied with Turkey’s own Kurdish separatists, has warned the United States against aiding the group. Weapons shipments to the YPG, which composes the majority of what the United States calls the Syrian
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he believes US-Turkish relations will “gain momentum” after Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Remarks by Erdogan and Cavusoglu, to a conference of Turkish ambassadors in Ankara, were reported by the Anadolu news agency there.
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