Marines in Syria
Military.com reports that members of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit have set up shop in Syria as US-backed forces prepare to attack ISIS in the Islamic State’s capital city, Raqqa.
A defense official would not speak to the size of the detachment deployed to Syria, but said it included elements of multiple artillery batteries, as well as support personnel, including infantry Marines. It’s the first time American artillery support capability has been on the ground in Syria since the fight against the Islamic State began in 2014.
The Marines are equipped with M777 155mm howitzers, which can fire high-explosive rounds, effective at a range of more than 14 miles, or GPS-guided Excalibur rounds, which have an effective radius of up to 25 miles. They are there to provide capabilities for the commanders of the joint task force leading the ISIS fight and to support the push into Raqqa, the official said.
This is the second time in just over a year that a Marine artillery detachment has been deployed from a MEU in support of the ground fight against ISIS militants. In March 2016, more than 100 Marines departed the 26th MEU to establish Fire Base Bell, an artillery position in northern Iraq set up to provide support as ground troops prosecuted an assault on the ISIS stronghold of Mosul.
The news follows the eye witness reports of Army Stryker vehicles spotted in Syria over the past weekend.
U.S. Stryker combat vehicles have been spotted in northeastern Syria, where special operations troops have been on the move to head off potential clashes among a number of rival forces converging on the flashpoint town of Manbij.
Photos of the eight-wheeled Strykers and up-armored Humvees flying U.S. flags were posted on social media over the weekend after the U.S. regional command confirmed that elements of the 500 mostly Special Forces troops in northeastern Syria had moved toward Manbij.
Category: Terror War
This is my shocked face.
😐
sigh
Now I’m getting worried.
Are those things armored heavily enough to withstand an ISer suicide truck? The videos I’ve seen are horrendous.
What “things” and how big a suicide bomb? Strykers could probably withstand something like the standard Toyota with some artillery shells as the IED. Something like the mammoth dump truck bomb that was set off in Baghdad at a checkpoint years ago-almost certainly not.
Things like the 8-wheeler armored vehicle in the photo – the truck bombs online in ISers drone videos are anything from big SUVs overloaded with explosives to tanker trucks, ditto.
That’s why I’m concerned.
The explosion ‘bubble’ is sometimes visible, depending on the drone’s angle.
That’s a Stryker.
There are some explosions that no armored vehicle can withstand. The only questions is whether or not the enemy can get the device close enough to be effective.
That’s the problem, 68W58. Those guys are all deadset on suicide missions, so driving on the wrong side of the road, head-on into a flatbed rig carrying a bunch of Strykers or something like that is part of their ‘menu’.
I’m starting to regret beginning this conversation, because I think I answered your question and I’m not sure where this is going or what your frame of reference is, but here goes anyway. I really don’t know where the Strykers were brought in by truck from but almost certainly either Kuwait or Turkey. (It is also possible they were flown in to theater) In either case there are routes into a staging area where they can be put into their maneuver element that are largely secure, depending on where they are operating. In any event much better that the enemy attack them while in transit (and not crewed) than when they are in operation-where ROE can be used to discourage approach.
I was deployed to Iraq four times between 2003 and 2011. On two of those deployments I was with an armored cavalry squadron and a sustainment brigade (the other two saw me restricted to the FOB). Because of this, I understand both the tactical and logistical problems involved relatively well.
This is a complicated answer. VBIEDs are vehicles packed with explosives. They make a big bang and there is a huge concussion, and maybe even shrapnel (hunks of metal that they pack around the explosive.) However, VBIEDs are generally not really anti-armor.
The force could roll or flip the vehicle, and the concussion can cause TBIs, but the shrapnel probably will not penetrate the armor, which is designed specifically for that purpose. OF course, if you aren’t buttoned up or the explosion starts a secondary fire it’s anybody’s guess.
However, the enemy will use the VBIED in a complex attack- the vehicle explodes, and while you are reacting they hit you with RPGs or ATGMs that ARE designed to penetrate armor.
This is life in ground combat. You come to war with a combat vehicle, the enemy will find a way to destroy it and kill you. There are a million ways to get killed, this is just one of them.
Debate often heard among ground troops: Would you rather ride around the battlefield in an armored target, or take your own chances as an unobtrusive dismount with no armor protection that can hide in plain sight?
The other classic debate is whether you would rather have an arm or a leg blown off, and of course there is always whether or not you should take off your mask and take a deep breath during a chemical attack (the logic being that its just a matter of time before you die a slow, agonizing death, why not do it on your own terms)
No. They have about an inch of Kevlar/Ceramic Armor on their skin. They are not intended to withstand large explosions.
Just kill em all (ISIS) and get out of Syria. No fan on Assad, but he at least somewhat nominally kept these monsters under control before the Arab Spring.
Maybe the anti-war left will reemerge after disappearing during Obama’s term in office? Where is code pink?
By what authority do we insert any force in Syria? Anyone know? I’m fairly confident al-Assad didn’t invite them.
For anyone interested, here’s the answer to the question I asked above. There certainly has been no invitation extended to the US for stepping into Syria, with or w/o arms. However, as it happens, the legal basis is that the US is in Iraq by invitation and individuals based in Syria have attacked Iraq. Normally, that would be an issue for the Syrian gov’t to address. However, as is clear from the civil war there, it has been unable to control the war makers and terrorists that are now US targets. Under the UN charter, such a circumstance—using a country as a base to attack other nations w/o the ability of that country’s gov’t to stop the attacks or control the attackers—is justifies (arguably) the US and coalition forces in Syria. That was how it was explained by our ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, in a letter to the UN secretary back in 2014.
Interesting article here:
http://www.kentuckylawjournal.org/index.php/tag/operation-inherent-resolve/
I don’t see how the Marines can be allowed to participate in ANY missions until their EVIL MISOGYNIST ways are properly dealt with.
/sarc
Arty is going to do all the work.
I would like to register my disapproval.
Noted. The list is long. This half-assed approach to warring will accomplish little or nothing of lasting value. All in or stay out.
I think you guys are missing the point. They’re bringing in artillery.
Obviously the intention here is to lend dignity to the vulgar brawl that the Syrian civil war has become. 😉
For those not in on the joke:
You’re welcome. 😉
Some Islamists going to get fucking wrecked.
Give them hell, Marines.
Well, Vlad is vested in Syria, too. I think maybe it’s time he and we agree to stop disagreeing and start cleaning house over there, together.
But that’s just me.
Well, at least, (sorry if this is too Hollywood, but) “Get some!!”
I thought all the Syrian men sought refuge in Europe and the USA?
Who the fuck are the Marines going to fight, Russians?
Ya say them M777s have “an effective radius of 25 miles”. Them fuckers got more lethal since I was an 0802. Think they meant range. It’s still true- Artillery lends dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl. Whiskey Six- 11th Marines, 12th Marines, 13th Marines, 14th Marines- (’59-’73)
25 mile “radius” would be pretty bad ass.. like a nuke… pretty sure they meant range vice radius. Also pretty sure anything that far out would be not be the standard rounds with just propellent but, the RAPs (rocket assisted projectiles) that have a build in rocket booster in the back that kicks in after it leaves the tube.
SF don’t have Strykers, but the 75th does. I’d be willing to bet that 500 SF are actually Bat boys.
Media never could tell the difference in our SOF units.
If that picture is actually from Syria, you would think it would have a DUKE/EW antenna on it.
Yeah. One of the first things I noticed also.
It still amazes (& frustrates) me that we have the technology to provide some degree of protection to our troops and continually fail to do so. Not just in not installing/using the equipment, but a lack of leadership to ensure each member involved (i.e. every “passenger”) knows the basics of the equipment & how to turn it on to proper operating mode.
Too many times I’ve seen vehicles go outside the wire in an IED rich environment with the CREW still in “standby” with a flashing green light. When you ask them why their CREW is not turned on properly, RUN mode, the typical response was ” It is on. I’ve got a flashing green.”
SMH