WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, released the following statement after the Obama administration announced that it will deploy a small number of American Special Operations forces to Syria:

“I am hopeful that the diplomatic talks in Vienna are successful, but if they are not, sending American special forces into Syria is a major shift in policy that puts the United States on a potentially dangerous downward slope into a civil war with no end in sight. Deploying troops into the middle of the Syrian civil war, regardless of their mission, risks drawing U.S. forces into combat missions and will inevitably increase pressure for the United States to enter the war against Assad. This would not be in American interests.   

“Further, the Syrian rebel forces are deeply intertwined with terrorist groups like the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Al Nusra Front. It will be difficult for the advantage of U.S. special forces advisors to accrue only to the moderate Syrian and Kurdish forces, and not the extremist groups. As we saw when U.S. weapons from the train and equip mission were transferred to Al Nusra, there is a great risk that our increased presence will result in battlefield benefit to our sworn enemy, Al Qaeda.

“Our focus should remain on degrading ISIL from the air, standing up an Iraqi fighting force capable of pushing ISIL out of Ramadi and Mosul, conducting special operations missions against key ISIL targets, and stepping up our response to the humanitarian crisis in the region. This new focus on ground operations in Syria risks extending U.S. engagement in the region beyond our core mission. 

“The bottom line is that it is well past time for Congress to do our constitutional duty and debate an authorization for the war against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. It’s important to remember that the only authorization that has been voted on in Congress, in December of 2014, specifically banned the presence of U.S. troops on the ground in Syria. I hope that in the shadow of this new escalation, Congress will do its job and debate and pass an authorization to give legal standing to the Administration’s fight against ISIL.”