Though declining to provide any numbers, Defense Secretary James Mattis announced Tuesday that US diplomats on the ground in Syria “have been doubled in number.” Officials later clarified this referred to a recent increase in State Department personnel.
Mattis presented this as part of a general shift in US focus as ISIS gets closer to being defeated, saying that “as we see the military operations becoming less, we will see the diplomatic effort now able to take root.”
Yet the US has no embassy in Syria, and officials aren’t at all clear where these diplomats are, or what they’re doing. The Pentagon has repeatedly insisted that troops in Syria aren’t leaving as well, suggesting that the state of war isn’t really going to wind down all the way.
It’s also not apparent why US diplomats would need to be in Syria at all, since diplomacy with other nations involved could more easily happen through direct channels (in nations like Turkey and Russia), while the US presumably will continue to refuse talks with Syria or Iran.
What diplomats would that be? The USA does not believe in such weakness.
Seems odd having diplomats in a country you’re not welcomed in and one that you want the legitimate leader to be removed.
Usually what we call “diplomats” either means threateners or CIA agents. But in Syria, that would probably mean more covert arms deals with Al Qaeda and the Kurds.
have Syrian diplomats in the USA increased?
Let’s call a spade a spade. Mathis means that the “Diplomats” are the American troops in Syria.
the Secr of Defense probably mis-spoke, what he meant to say was that the number of ….US troops on the ground….. in Syria has doubled recently