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Clinton cautiously backs Obama on Syria deployment

by Bradford Richardson - 10/31/15 9:42 AM ET

Hillary Clinton is tentatively supporting President Obama’s decision to authorize a small number of U.S. Special Operations forces in an effort to combat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The Democratic presidential front-runner “sees merit in the targeted use of special operations personnel to support our partners in the fight against ISIS, including in Syria,” according to a statement obtained by CNN from campaign spokesman Nick Merrill.

{mosads}“Of course she opposes the U.S. getting into a ground war in the Middle East,” Merrill continues. “And she strongly supports ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, address the suffering, and bring all of Syria’s communities together to confront ISIS.”

The White House announced Friday it would be deploying fewer than 50 Special Operations forces to Syria to help Kurdish and Arab forces in their fight against ISIS.

Clinton said at the first Democratic primary debate earlier this month that she doesn’t “want American troops on the ground in Syria.”

But the former secretary of State has generally been more hawkish than Obama on Syria. She has advocated a no-fly zone in the war-torn country. The White House has long opposed increasing its involvement in the conflict that has left over 250,000 dead since 2011.

She is also more supportive of the president’s deployment than primary Democratic primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who “expressed concern” about the move.

“Sen. Sanders expressed concern about the United States being drawn into the quagmire of the Syrian civil war which could lead to perpetual warfare in that region,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement. “The senator believes that the crisis in Syria will be solved diplomatically, not militarily.”

Obama is also deploying A-10s and F-15s to Turkey and working with Iraq to create a special forces task force as a part of a revamped campaign to combat ISIS.

-Updated at 11:03 a.m.

Tags Barack Obama Hillary Clinton Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Syria