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U.S. Troops Going to Northern Syria. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 30, 2015 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[10:30:14] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

A human rights group inside Syria says the Bashar al Assad government has fired rockets on its own people today. The group says at least 40 people were killed in the attack in the suburb of the capital. 100 more were wounded. The suburb is often attacked by government forces because of rebel groups who are based there.

Most of the United States' efforts to defeat ISIS are from above. Coalition jets conducting air strikes but there are, in fact, Americans on the ground fighting alongside the Kurds on the front lines.

CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward has the story of one Iraqi war veteran who returned to the fight in Syria as a volunteer.

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CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Randy Roberts has spent much of the last seven months on the front lines. The former U.S. Army Specialist who deployed twice to Iraq was studying graphic design in the U.S. when he decided to join the fight against ISIS.

RANDY ROBERTS, AMERICAN VOLUNTEER: I felt like I could, given my past military experience and that I had been to this region before, that I could contribute and I could actually help the cause.

WARD: How did you get guidance as to how to get here, who to link up with?

ROBERTS: Well, Google.

WARD: Google?

ROBERTS: It's the --

WARD: That's how you planned your trip to come and fight ISIS?

ROBERTS: Believe it or not, yes. I just simply looked up westerners who had come over here before me.

WARD: Roberts is one of more than 100 westerners who have come to Syria and Iraq to fight with Kurdish forces.

The Internet is full of slickly-produced YPG propaganda videos featuring American volunteers. There's even a Web site selling ISIS hunting kits and offering packing lists on what to bring.

At a small training camp in northern Syria, we watched some new recruits -- among them, two Americans. Most did not want to show their faces. Unlike Roberts, few had any military experience.

We also meet a lot --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: All right. We do have important breaking news to share with you right now. President Obama is due to announce that at any time today, it involves American troops and it involves Syria.

So, let's get details now from our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Tell us what you know.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- Carol. A very significant development: the White House expected to announce later today multiple officials are telling CNN that a small number of U.S. Special Operations Forces will be headed to northern Syria. This will put the first U.S. boots on the ground on a regular basis in Syria. They've done a couple of raids in the past.

This is very different. What we are talking about is a decision by the President and Defense Secretary Ash Carter that they want to proceed with putting these Special Operations Forces in the Kurdish- controlled areas of northern Syria.

This is up against the Turkish border. This is an area where the Kurdish forces, some Syrian Arab militias and thousands of other additional forces have been fighting ISIS. Clarissa Ward has been up there. She has seen some of this firsthand in recent days.

These troops have been short of ammunition. They've had difficulties in getting logistics, the trucks, the supplies they need, planning their missions, making a really concerted -- as the military says -- campaign effort to go against ISIS.

So now some U.S. Special Operations Forces are expected to go there in the coming days and help with those tasks. Get these forces -- these Syrian Arabs, these Kurdish forces -- get them more able to start moving and pushing against ISIS to the south.

So the obvious question so many Americans are going to have when the White House announces this, are U.S. troops now in combat in northern Syria? Make no mistake, this is a combat zone. This is a very hot war there.

Pentagon officials will tell you, not at the moment. They do not expect them to go into front line combat. However -- and that's why I think we need to sort of walk through all of this -- however they have the right, the Americans, to defend themselves. And if there is a specific mission that they are going to go

forward, go closer to that front line with the Syrian Kurds, the Syrian Arabs, they will get permission. They'll have to get permission.

[10:35:01] And they will do that. Such as the raid we saw some ten days ago in northern Syria when Delta Force accompanied Kurdish commandos into the field to liberate an ISIS prison.

So, it is dangerous work but it is something that they have decided, we're told that they want to proceed with. That the White House will announce. This is part of what had been in the works for days, part of an overall effort to develop a number of options for the President in both Syria and Iraq to really try and accelerate the war against ISIS.

Key goal here right now is back in Syria, Raqqa, you can find it on the map very easily -- Raqqa, Syria -- the self-declared capital of ISIS. This is the goal for the U.S. and for those rebel groups in the north: to try to cut off the access -- ISIS' access to Raqqa especially on the northern side, cut off the access, isolate ISIS, and try and push them out of there. Risky business.

The map really pretty much tells you the whole story about what this effort is. This is not where the Russians have necessarily been fighting. As you keep that map up, the Russians are mainly to the west. The Turks are to the north. They're not going to be happy about this because they very much see some of these groups along the border as their enemy. The battlefield just took another step in getting more complex and more dangerous for American troops -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Barbara -- stay right there. I want to take our viewers to the White House now to check in with Joe Johns. Will President Obama come out and talk about this later?

JOE JOHNS, SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Not clear. And we have asked that question. We do expect to hear from someone here at the White House, even the press secretary, Josh Earnest.

But I do want to tell you, Carol, that the White House has already sort of laid the groundwork for this as recently as yesterday in the briefing here at the White House Josh Earnest talking generally, while not confirming that there was going to be something like this going on.

Still saying for one thing that, as Barbara has already mentioned, U.S. military pilots have been flying in the skies over Syria now for more than a year; also pointing out that there have been previous situations where the President ordered U.S. military personnel to conduct operations on the ground, including the rescue of American citizens held hostage inside Syria.

So, broadly speaking, the White House started laying the groundwork for this notion of a small number of troops on the ground in Syria. And we certainly expect to hear more from the White House today, Carol. COSTELLO: All right. Stand by -- Joe Johns.

Lieutenant General Mark Hertling is on the phone right now. General, there are so many questions surrounding this. Number one, how will Russia react to this news?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST (via telephone): I don't think Russia will react all that significantly, Carol, but this is something, you know, as we talked about over the last year plus, the campaign plan for Syria, when a lot of people have said, hey we're not doing enough. It's just a bombing campaign.

You have to set the conditions for these kinds of things. And I think the placement of special -- of Special Forces or Special Operating Forces to advise and assist Syrian rebels, in this case the YPG, the Kurds, is appropriate at this time. And it's something that even General Dempsey, when he was the chairman, said we might do given the circumstances and the changing conditions of the battlefield.

A year ago we didn't have that many contacts in Syria that were the opposition forces. Over the last year, those have been created. We've made contacts on the ground through various intelligent sources and now we have the capability to contribute more. And I think just a little bit of effort by Special Forces and assisting these Kurdish fighters is a good thing.

There was a report the other night that said the Kurdish fighters --

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COSTELLO: Let me ask you this about Raqqa because ISIS has been there for quite some time. It's an established city for them. They set up a government. I'm sure they set up protective forces around that city. What is it going to take to go in and defeat ISIS in Raqqa, its de facto capital?

HERTLING: Well -- and that's part of the campaign planning. And I think the Kurds are ready to fight on the ground. The YPG Kurds are ready to fight on the ground but they need perhaps some assistance in terms of their maneuver or their campaign planning. How do you go into Raqqa?

Raqqa is an established caliphate right now, but it's teetering on the brink of collapse. ISIS does not have a strong power over the rest of the people in this city. They have imposed their will through violence. So if you can counter that will, I think you'll see some uprising from the local citizens that don't want ISIS there either.

[10:39:58] You know, when you talk about these kind of societies and what ISIS is trying to impose, the majority of people that live in the area that they control, the vast majority -- and I don't want to put a percentage over it -- but it's much greater than 60 percent or 70 percent -- do not want to be controlled by these thugs. They have just imposed their violence and they've caused that to happen.

COSTELLO: All right.

HERTLING: So, if there's something that counters that, and that's what the YPG, the Syrian Kurds are attempting to do, with some help from the Americans, I think you're going to see a much greater influence on destroying and defeating ISIS, which is the President's strategy.

COSTELLO: All right. Well, Barbara Starr has new information. We'll get to that after we take a quick break. I'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

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[10:45:03] COSTELLO: All right. More on our breaking news.

The Obama administration is expected to announce deployment of a small number of U.S. Special Operations Forces in Syria. It means there will be American boots on the ground in that war-ravaged nation.

Let's go back to the Pentagon to Barbara Starr for more information.

STARR: Hi, Carol. These Special Operations Forces are going to be stepping into a real quilt, if you will, a very complex situation of tribal politics, ethnic politics, ethnic elements up there in northern Syria.

They're not expected to work solely with the YPG, the Kurdish elements, but to work with some 5,000 vetted, in other words, people that they know -- members of something called the Syrian Arab coalition, about 5,000 Arab fighters that are up in that area also fighting ISIS.

That word "vetted" is what you're going to hear a lot about. The U.S. troops are not just walking in. They are going to work with groups and people that they have run through their so-called security checks. People they know, people they say that they can trust, that they can go into the field with, as they did in that raid with the Kurdish commandos in Iraq several days ago.

So, that's the first thing. It's going to be with people that they know and trust. It is going to be not just advising them on how to carry out missions, helping them plan their raids, helping them move forward. But also, you know, clearly what Special Operations Forces do when they're on the ground, they gather intelligence. They talk to the people. They figure out what's going on.

This should help the U.S. have a much clearer, more direct idea of what exactly is happening on the ground. So look for intelligence sharing.

And as that ground action moves forward, moves further south to try at least to push ISIS out -- again, if you look at the map, this is along the border. They're going to want to push towards Raqqa with this Arab coalition, with the Kurds. As that happens, the other U.S. Special Operations effort will be

to continue to airdrop ammunition and get supplies to these fighters. They need constant replenishment. This is only going to work if they have the ammunition, the weapons, the trucks, to keep moving forward.

So you will see some of that. But make no mistake, let's circle back. With U.S. boots on the ground, even a small number, there will have to be an effort, a comprehensive effort, to make sure the Americans can be kept safe.

Will they be able to be rescued - if they get into trouble? Will they have access to medical care? Can you get Americans out of there if they get into trouble? So expect to see more intelligence gathering, more air strikes, the action, the military action should step up once this begins to happen -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. So let's head to the region right now, Barbara, to southern Turkey and Nick Paton Walsh.

Nick -- you heard all the concerns that Barbara expressed about this Special Operations Forces on the ground. Will troops be able to keep them safe? Will these rebel groups be able to fight effectively against ISIS?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the key question is who exactly are they going to be training and advising? Advising and assisting. Now the YPG, the Kurdish group who have been fighting in Kobani -- we've seen that on our screens recently -- and are moving along the border with Turkey, where I'm standing here, further west toward ISIS-held areas, they can't work exclusively with them. That will leave a bad taste in the mouth of many Syrians because there are many fears amongst the Syrians in the north of that country that when the Kurds, the YPG, take areas they tend to hold on to them for themselves.

So a long-term strategy of just using the YPG as the force to attack ISIS, you could run into problems on that down the line. So from what Barbara's is reporting, it sounds like the Syrian Arab coalition, which are a loose, small and at times ill-defined group of Sunni Syrian Arabs in the east of the country where the Kurds are, but also too, to the west of ISIS-held areas as well but directly south from where I'm standing. That's probably where they're going to be directing their energies.

But there's a problem there. She was talking about the vetting of these fighters. Well, vetting has been complicated. Remember recently there's something called the New Syrian Force. That was a lengthy half billion dollar effort by the United States to put together a 1,500 -- perhaps stronger size of Syrian moderate rebels who they vetted. They got as many as 54 together, then the program collapsed, admitting in testimony on the Hill a senior general that in fact they had four or five left in the field.

So the group it sounds like they're heading towards now, the 5,000 or so -- these aren't exclusively vetted. There's been a parallel program run by the CIA, many reports suggest, finding some groups of rebels they're comfortable with and supplying them weapons.

[10:50:02] But It's probably these rebels they're going to have to work alongside and they're not entirely vetted. This will be a fluid operation on the ground often with faces that these Special Forces don't recognize -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live from southern Turkey.

I've got to take a break. We'll have much more on this decision by the Obama administration to send boots on the ground to Syria.

I'll be back in a minute.

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[10:54:51] COSTELLO: All right. A little bit more on our breaking news. The Obama administration is expected to announce at any time that it has decided to deploy a small number of U.S. Special Operations Forces in Syria. That means boots on the ground. These forces will be gathering intelligence to help rebel groups on the ground defeat ISIS.

I want to bring in Lieutenant General Mark Hertling to help us understand all of this.

This probably sounds frightening to a lot of Americans because Americans will be very close to ISIS fighters within Syria, especially to its stronghold Raqqa.

HERTLING: Carol, these Special Forces soldiers are trained to do this. This is their main mission in life is to advise and assist other government's armies. They're doing that. Now, whether or not it's a known force that's already together, like the YPG Kurds or various elements of the Syrian army depends, but there's been a lot of coordination going on behind the scene over the last year.

This is not something we just drop forces in and say, hey, try and make the best of it. You can bet that there has been an awful lot of coordination, cooperation, development of personalities and engagements going on for several months before this decision is made.

COSTELLO: OK. I want to draw your attention, General, to another map we have -- and if we could put that map up -- there it is. So that gray area you see at the top of your screen, that area is controlled by ISIS. And I suppose those Special Operations Forces are also going to be helping the Kurds fight as well as these rebel groups, these Syrian rebel groups.

And in green up there at the top -- see the green up there at the top, that's along the border with Turkey -- that's where most of the Kurdish forces are. So, where exactly will these Special Operations Forces be, do you suppose, general?

HERTLING: Well, they're going to be where they can be, where the cooperation has already been developed with the various brigades of Syrian Arab forces, but also potentially with the Kurds. And, Carol, I can't say exactly. I'm not on the ground. I don't know which units have the cooperation right now.

But again, this is all based on the cooperation that has developed over the last several months. I would suggest that they are going to be with the Kurds, contributing to their security within what they consider their tribal lands.

The Kurds don't go much further out of their tribal areas or their boundaries. But then you have to link up with the Arab Syrian forces as well. And there's a lot of competitiveness between the various tribes and between the Arabs and the Kurds. So, this -- you said the word patch work. This is truly a patch work of operations.

And one of the things Special Forces can do is coordinate between Americans who are advising the different units to try and bring complementary effects in one location. And that's what's going to happen.

COSTELLO: OK. And quickly now, because I'm running out of time, when you say a small number of Special Operations troops, how many do you suppose they're talking about?

HERTLING: Well, that depends. Again, it depends on the unit. You might have them at the brigade level, one or two. You may have a couple at the battalion level, one or two. But you also have to consider these guys are very well trained, not only in fighting but in medical care and evacuation and in planning operations.

There has to be support for these individuals on the ground, both medevac, in case one of them gets hurt, in resupply operations. They have a lot of that that they can do as well as calling in air. These guys can provide along with the indigenous forces a very, very powerful force.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Lieutenant General Mark Hertling -- thanks for your insight.

I'll be right back.

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