U.S. Special Ops Troops to Aid Syrian Rebels
WHITFIELD: All right. Within weeks now, U.S. troops are heading into battle zones in Syria. U.S. Special Operations Forces will be heading to Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria. A group of less than 50 will be working with moderate rebel groups in their fight against ISIS. These are groups the U.S. has already been arming and training. And as CNN's Chris Frates explains, the White House says this is not a shift in strategy.</s>CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Obama secretly told Defense Secretary Ash Carter a few months ago, he wanted faster progress in the war against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq and to come up with a plan -- a U.S. official says. Now, the President has ordered a small number of Special Operations soldiers into northern Syria to help local forces fight</s>ISIS. JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President does expect that they can have an impact in intensifying our strategy for building the capacity of local forces inside of Syria to taking the fight on the ground to</s>ISIL. FRATES: The teams, no more than 50 troops total, could include members of the Army's elite Delta Force and Green Berets, as well as Navy Seals. Their mission: to provide ammunition, communications, intelligence and supplies to local Arab and Kurdish forces on the ground. Until now the President had long said he would not put troops in combat, especially in Syria. And the White House insists that's still true.</s>EARNEST: The forces do not have a combat mission. This is not in any way an attempt to diminish the risks that they will face or the bravery that they will need to summon to carry out these operations.</s>FRATES: Secretary Carter did not discuss the ground troops while meeting service members in Alaska Friday night. But he did say ISIS is one of the biggest threats.</s>ASHTON CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We have to beat ISIL. We are going to beat ISIL. These guys are evil. We are as I said the noble and they are the evil. We are the many and they are the few. And fundamentally, we are the strong. So we will beat them. And we're doing that now and figuring out how to get better at it.</s>FRATES: The Special Operations Forces are expected to be sent from Iraq across the border into northern Syria. The U.S. will use F-15 and A-10 jets launched from an air base in southern Turkey. All part of an effort to help anti-ISIS forces eventually take back ISIS' self- proclaimed capital city of Raqqa. But make no mistake here, Fred, Obama wanted to avoid putting troops on the ground where they will likely end up in combat situations. And just today, the State Department announced the U.S. will provide about $100 million in new aid to the Syrian opposition. The money will provide support to local officials, first responders and other kinds of civil needs. And since 2012, the U.S. has given almost $500 million in aid to the Syrian opposition -- Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow. All right. Thank you so much -- Chris Frates. That gives us a lot to redirect some details on our interview coming up right now with Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a CNN military analyst and a former U.S. military attache in the Middle East including Syria. All right. So good to see. So those are some incredible stats and numbers hearing from Chris there to know how much has already been invested to assist Syrian opposition forces and that more is now on the way. So there have been U.S. military air missions involving Syria. But with these 50 U.S. troops being sent to Syria, whether it be in a support capacity or otherwise, is this the first of this nature that you know of that so many U.S. troops would be on the ground to assist in this manner and possibly engage?</s>LT. CO. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You know, this is the first step. And I hope we don't get into mission creep. Those of us who remember the Vietnam era, this is how we started in Vietnam. We sent advisers in. We sent U.S. Army Special Forces. So we have to make sure that we don't engage in mission creep. But I think the President is doing the right thing here. These Army Special Forces are trained to do just this. This is the core mission for the Army Special Forces, going into an area, the foreign internal defense mission. They will set up military units. They'll help them organize. They'll train them. They'll provide communications intelligence. One thing they can do is help them do a better job in calling in air strikes. We have not done a good job in leveraging American air power against the targets in either Syria or Iraq. It has been over a year and we really haven't put much of a dent in the ISIS structure. I think if we can get that facet of it going, it may make a real difference.</s>WHITFIELD: So the White House maintains that this is not a change in strategy. And listening to Chris there in his report where he says, these troops, these Special Forces, might likely come from Iraq -- already based there in Iraq and then redirected to Syria. Is that why the White House is able to say it is not a change in strategy, because these are U.S. troops that are already in the region?</s>FRANCONA: Yes, I think they are parsing the words here. This is a major shift. I won't call it a change in strategy. Let's call it a change in tactics. The strategy is still the same. It's to degrade and defeat ISIL. We are going just at it a different way. And putting boots on the ground in Syria is a major shift in the President's initial concept of operations. I wouldn't go so far as to say it is a shift in strategy. But it is definitely an upgrade of the tactics.</s>WHITFIELD: What are your greatest worries here? I know you said you actually liked this idea in large part. What would be elements of this plan that makes you most nervous?</s>FRANCONA: Well, 50 is not a big number. These are highly trained people. They are used to working in small groups. They are used to going sort of behind the lines. But 50, you are out there kind of alone. So I am worried about one of these units getting cut off or coming up fire.</s>WHITFIELD: So 50 is a small number in your view?</s>FRANCONA: I think it is a small number. Hopefully, we don't get into incremental buildup. If 50 would make a difference that would be great. We need the leverage, the air power. These guys are very good at that.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Col. Rick Francona, always good to see you. Thank you so much.</s>FRANCONA: Have a good day.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead, more on our breaking news, a passenger plane going down in Egypt killing everyone on board. We have a live update on the latest including what might have brought that Russian plane down.