USA: Obama to send boots on the ground in Syria

White House spokesperson Josh Earnest confirmed the decision of the US authorities to deploy special forces operatives on the ground in Syria to advise "moderate opposition" during a White House press briefing in Washington D.C, Friday. "So what United States and coalition partners have been focused on doing is enhancing the capacity of moderate opposition forces on the ground inside of Syria," Earnest stated. The press secretary insisted that the mission will be advisory rather than "combat" and its main goal is to build the capacity of local forces to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL). President Obama does expect that US special operation forces "can have an impact in intensifying our strategy for building the capacity of local forces inside of Syria to take in the fight on the ground to ISIL in their own country," he said, adding that it has been the "core element of the military component" of the US strategy "from the beginning."