During the fight in Syria between the I.S. (Islamic State) and the Syrian government, the United States has shied away from putting troops into combat directly. Instead, they have sent hundreds of special forces to advise the government forces and train them to fight the I.S.

On Wednesday, March 15, 2017, however, an American defense official confirmed that Marines had been deployed to Syria to join the fight, but the Pentagon would not publically confirm these claims. This is the first use of conventional forces in Syria by the United States.

The United States is authorized to have up to 500 troops in Syria based on rules from the Obama administration, but temporary troops do not count towards this capacity. The current plan is to set up a base about 25 miles outside of the city, where the Marines can fire artillery into the city. The rest of the Marines will back the main fight for the city. A base located in Kuwait, where about 1,000 soldiers can be deployed from, has also been ordered to be ready to join the fight at a moment’s notice.

These battle plans and the situation itself are similar to the fighting that took place in Iraq cities. Michael Meyer, senior, said, “I’m glad we’re getting involved. It shows the I.S. that we mean business.”

The reason for this sudden involvement is because of the Syrian forces’ struggle to capture Raqqa, the declared capital of the I.S. Reports say there are still around 4,000 I.S. fighters in the city, but, because of the involvement of the marines, many of the I.S. leaders have fled the city. Although there have been retreats by the I.S., their attacks have not slowed. Within the past week, there has been a bombing at a wedding that either killed or injured at least 30 people and a shooting in a military hospital that killed 30 and injured many more. Jordyn Haessler, senior, said, “This is why we need to get involved. They are harming people in Syria as well and the rest of the world, and they need to be stopped.”