Democratic presidential nominee Clinton pledges no U.S. ground troops in Iraq, Syria

U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Thursday reiterated that she would not put U.S. ground troops into Iraq and Syria in the military campaign against the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

"I've said it on numerous occasions. I believe it. I think putting a big contingent of American ground troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria would not be in the best interest of the fight against ISIS and other terrorist groups," said Clinton in a news conference in New York, referring to another acronym of the group.

While she insisted that the dispatch of U.S. ground troops "would fulfil one of their (IS) dearest wishes" of dragging the United States back into a ground war in the Middle East, Clinton on Thursday showcased her willingness to continue U.S. President Barack Obama's current anti-IS strategy despite Republicans' severe criticism that the Obama administration was acting insufficiently in the campaign.

"I support the air campaign. I support Special Forces. I support enablers. I support surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance. I will absolutely be prepared to do whatever is necessary to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground to take out as much of the infrastructure of ISIS from the air," said Clinton, adding that she would also be committed to target-killing of IS leadership.

Currently, there are about 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and several hundreds more are dispatched to northern Syria. The White House does not count them as "ground troops," arguing that those are not combat troops and are only engaged in assisting and training local forces in the fight against IS.

(APD)