US will not directly confront Russia in Syria

President Obama has decided not to directly confront Russia over its new air offensive in Syria, believing that Russian President Vladimir Putin will soon find himself in a Syrian "quagmire," but he has approved a new escalation of US efforts against the Daesh, The Washington Post reported.

Obama laid out the US response to Russia's actions during a meeting with senior aides Thursday evening. Details were firmed up in a meeting Friday morning among national security principals at the White House, senior administration officials said.

At the same time, the president also approved proposals, made prior to this week's Russian actions, to strengthen the US fight against the militants. Those measures were recommended by Obama's new Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr.

They include direct US weapons shipments, overland from Iraq, to Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters who in recent months have pushed the Daesh from a major portion of northern Syria along the Turkish border.

The Kurds are now expected to begin moving south toward Raqqa, the de facto militant capital, in north-central Syria.

US airstrikes are also slated to increase west of the Euphrates, where US-backed opposition forces have had little recent success against the Islamic State. Those strikes are being launched from Incirlik air base in Turkey, where aircraft from other coalition partners will join US planes.

Obama did not respond directly to questions about what, if anything, he would do to help the embattled opposition, which includes thousands of fighters who have been trained and armed over the years by the CIA, as well as non-Islamic State extremists. Senior administration officials said that training and limited supplies for those inside Syria would continue but that the policy was likely to continue.

Source: MENA