page_title: American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War
section_title: 2017–18
hierarchical_section_title: American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War / Ground operations / 2017–18
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Véhicules américains et membres des YPG à Direk, près de Hassaké, le 1er mai 2017. English: Hasakeh: US Armored Vehicles Spreading In Direk Town 1-5-2017
context_page_description: The American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War refers to the United States-led support of the Syrian rebels and the Syrian Democratic Forces during the course of the Syrian Civil War, including Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, the active military operation led by the United States and involving the militaries of the United Kingdom, France, Jordan, Turkey, Canada, Australia and others against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Nusra Front since 2014. Since early 2017, the U.S. and its partners have also targeted the Syrian government and its allies via airstrikes and aircraft shoot-downs.
  During the Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011, the U.S. initially supplied the rebels of the Free Syrian Army with non-lethal aid but quickly began providing training, money, and intelligence to selected Syrian rebel commanders. At least two U.S. programs attempted to assist the Syrian rebels, including a 2014 Pentagon program that planned to train and equip 15,000 rebels to fight ISIL, which was canceled in 2015 after spending $500 million and producing only a few dozen fighters.
context_section_description: In March 2017, the Trump administration deployed an additional 400 U.S. Marines to Syria to expand the fight against ISIL in the Raqqa offensive where they could provide artillery support for U.S.-backed local forces that were preparing an assault on Raqqa to liberate the city from IS militants. The deployment marked a new escalation in the U.S.'s war in Syria, and put more conventional U.S. troops in the battle that, until then, had primarily used Special Operations units. The 400 Marines were part of the 11th MEU from the Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines. They manned an artillery battery of M-777 Howitzers whilst additional infantrymen from the unit provided security; resupplies were handled by part of the expeditionary force's combat logistics element. During the Raqqa campaign alone, this small artillery battalion fired over 40,000 shells (including 34,033 155mm), more than were used in the entire 2003 invasion of Iraq and only 20,000 fewer than all those fired by the U.S. military in Operation Desert Storm.
  In March 2018, SDF press secretary in Deir ez-Zor Mehdi Kobani reportedly told Sputnik Turkiye that U.S. forces were building a "large military base" in the oil-rich al-Omar region of Deir ez-Zor as new equipment had been reportedly arriving to U.S. bases in Syria. The al-Omar oilfield is the largest oil deposit in Syria, and was captured by the SDF during their campaign against ISIL in October 2017.
  On 8 April 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump called Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad "Animal Assad", following suspected chemical attack carried out in the Syrian city of Douma. On 14 April, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom carried out missile strikes against Syria. On 30 May, President Al-Assad responded to the insult, by saying: "What you say is what you are."
  It was reported in June 2018 that the 441st Air Expeditionary Squadron reportedly maintained an unpaved runway in Sarrin, Raqqa Governorate.
caption: Kurdish troops and U.S. armored vehicle in Al-Hasakah, May 2017
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