Hillary Clinton on Friday cautiously supported President Barack Obama’s decision to authorize the use of special forces in Syria.
Clinton “sees merit in the targeted use of special operations personnel to support our partners in the fight against ISIS, including in Syria,” according to a statement released by her campaign spokesman, Nick Merrill.
“Of course she opposes the U.S. getting into a ground war in the Middle East,” Merrill said. “And she strongly supports ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, address the suffering, and bring all of Syria’s communities together to confront ISIS.”
White House spokesman Josh Earnest announced Friday that the U.S. would be deploying less than 50 Special Operations forces to the war-torn country, and they will be sent to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria. The American troops will help local Kurdish and Arab forces fighting ISIS, also known as ISIL, with logistics and are planning to bolster their efforts.
“The President does expect that they can have an impact in intensifying our strategy for building the capacity of local forces inside of Syria for taking the fight on the ground to ISIL in their own country,” Earnest said. “That has been the core element of the military component of our strategy from the beginning: building the capacity of local forces on the ground.”
Clinton has long been more hawkish on Syria than Obama or other Democrats. During her time as secretary of state, she advocated for a no-fly zone over the country and more work to arm rebels against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Clinton’s position is also more supportive than that of Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont and Clinton’s most prominent 2016 challenger, who expressed concern about the decision on Friday.
“Sen. Sanders expressed concern about the United States being drawn into the quagmire of the Syrian civil war which could lead to perpetual warfare in that region,” spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement. “The senator believes that the crisis in Syria will be solved diplomatically, not militarily.”