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Displaced Iraqis from Ramadi prepare to cross the Bzebiz bridge after spending the night walking toward Baghdad, as they flee their hometown, May 16, 2015.(Photo: Hadi Mizban, AP)
WASHINGTON --<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The U.S.killing of a senior Islamic State leader in Syria on Friday is not likely to be a "game changer'' in the administration's policies to use ground forces, but shows the willingness to use such force for targeted operations, some defense experts said Saturday.
Defense officials said U.S. Special Operations forces killed ISIL leader Abu Sayyaf and captured his wife, Umm Sayyaf, during a rare ground raid Friday in eastern Syria.
Michael O'Hanlon, who specializes in national security and defense at the Brookings Institution, said the ground raid represents a policy change for President Obama's administration.
"Limited risk-taking will be needed to have a chance of even limited success, and this raid crosses an important threshold while still being true to the president's strong preference for limiting U.S. involvement,'' he wrote in an email.
James Carafano, a national security and foreign policy expert at the Heritage Foundation, disagrees.
"It's part of rolling up ISIS. You want to keep pressure on its leadership …These guys can't rest easy,'' Carafano<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said. "It's part of what needs to be done, but it's not a substitute for an overall policy.''
"The U.S. and Iraq can't treat Syria as a no-go zone,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Carafano said.
David Adesnik, policy director for the Foreign Policy Initiative, said the killing of the Islamic State<span style="color: Red;">*</span>leader is not likely to have a strategic impact on the Syrian conflict, but said he found it interesting that U.S. troops were on the ground.
"It seems there was a reluctance to cross this line before,'' said Adesnik. "I don't know if it really signals anything."
Carafano said the raids are likely to happen more often.
"The longer we're in theater, the more likely we're going to find situations like this … the more we're going to go after them,'' he said.
On that, O'Hanlon agrees. Though he said it's too early to say whether it will have an impact on stability in the region, he expects more raids<span style="color: Red;">*</span>when targets present themselves.
"Beyond that, we have to ask about whether we will ever want to deploy limited numbers of special forces continuously on the ground in Syria to work with opposition forces, if and when they are ready in certain sectors of the country, and if and when such actions would be prudent in terms of risks to U.S.forces,'' he said.
Congressional lawmakers praised the killing of the ISIS leader and said the U.S. must continue stepped efforts to rid the region of terrorists.
"U.S.forces must now use the intelligence captured at the terrorist compound in Syria and gathered from Umm Sayyaf to keep hitting this deadly and savage enemy," Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
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As Iraqi government forces continue to battle Islamic militants in Ramadi, a video released by the Iraq's defense ministry allegedly shows Islamic State (IS) positions being attacked by government forces. The attack took place Friday. (May 16) AP
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