Former CIA head and commander of forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, said that forces could take out Syrian Air Force assets “without undue risk.”
Petraeus made the remarks Tuesday before the Senate Armed Forces Committee, as part of a call for increased US military intervention in Syria’s ongoing Civil War. He was the sole witness at a hearing on the Obama administration’s foreign policy in the Middle East.
“It was publicly reported that had we taken out the chemical system in the Red Line issue, that a lot of that would have been, if not all of it, by sea and air-launched cruise missiles,” Petraeus said, referring to a 2013 chemical weapons attack in Ghouta that nearly sparked US airstrikes on the Syrian government.
“The fact is, we’re already in Syrian airspace,” he also said. “We’re flying over it all the time. We’ve already put boots on the ground in Syria—special mission unit boots. So we have the capability to do a great deal, and, I think, we know how to do it capably and without undue risk.”
Earlier this month, Central Command chief, Gen. Lloyd Austin, revealed that the US military sent special operations forces to assist Kurdish militias in northern Syria before the ongoing “train and equip” anti-Islamic State rebel-arming initiative was launched in 2014.
Petraeus also said Tuesday that the US must increase pressure on the government of Bashar al-Assad before trying to help negotiate a political solution to the conflict.
He called on the administration to specifically target Syrian aircraft dropping barrel bombs in civilian areas, saying that they’re uniquely responsible for driving Syrians to seek refuge in Europe. In order to ensure Syrians’ safety, Petraeus said, the US should establish “enclaves” inside of Syria that would be defended by the American military.
Although he resigned in disgrace in 2012 after being caught having an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, Petraeus is revered on Capitol Hill.
As former commander of US troops in Iraq, he is widely credited with stemming the tide of violence that arose there last decade in response to the post-invasion US occupation—a desired policy effect many Republicans attribute almost wholly to a “surge” in US troop levels.
Petraeus himself on Tuesday suggested that line of thinking is facile. “It’s really important to remember that the surge that mattered most was not the surge of forces, it was the surge of ideas,” he said, referring to strategic maneuvers that saw an increased role for Iraqis and US troops more closely integrated with the Iraqi population.
