McClatchy DC quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Senior Fellow Frederic C. Hof on President Obama’s motives to send a small group of US Special Operations forces to assist with on-the-ground operations in Syria:
Frederic C. Hof, a former State Department special adviser for the transition in Syria and now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center, said deploying a handful of U.S. special operations forces to Syria would “not change this situation significantly. It is a Band-Aid of sorts, although a potentially useful one.”
The deployment of special operators, he said, at least puts some “skin in the game” to help persuade regional powers to pony up ground forces, but it’s not a major development on its own.