US senators urge 20,000 troops for Syria, Iraq

Two senior US senators have called for Washington to nearly triple military force levels in Iraq to 10,000 and send an equal number of troops to Syria as part of a multinational ground force to counter Islamic State in both countries.

Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, during a visit to Baghdad, criticised President Barack Obama’s incremental Islamic State strategy, which relies on air strikes and modest support to local ground forces in Iraq and Syria.

They said the need for greater US involvement was underlined by this month’s Paris attacks. “The only way you can destroy the caliphate is with a ground component,” said Mr Graham who is seeking his party’s presidential nomination. “The aerial campaign is not turning the tide of battle.”

Mr McCain, chairman of the Senate armed services committee, recently proposed intervention in Syria by a European and Arab ground force backed by 10,000 US military advisers and trainers.

– (Reuters)