WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States escalated its fight against the Islamic State in Syria on Friday, pledging the first open deployment of military boots on the ground, even as U.S., Russian and other diplomats pressed a new peace effort that America hopes will hasten the departure of Bashar Assad.
Up to 50 special operations troops will be sent to assist Kurdish and Arab forces in northern Syria, American officials said. The move marks a significant departure for President Barack Obama, who for years has resisted putting ground forces in Syria even as he has gradually intensified the U.S. military response to what counterterrorism officials worry is a growing Islamic State threat in Syria and Iraq.
WASHINGTON – NBC News got the boot from the Republican National Committee after presidential campaigns complained about Wednesday's debate in Boulder, Colorado, hosted by its sibling network, CNBC.
"Questions were inaccurate or downright offensive," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said in a letter Friday to Andrew Lack, the NBC News chairman. "The first question directed to one of our candidates asked if he was running a comic book version of a presidential campaign, hardly in the spirit of how the debate was billed."
