![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635996163785847171-us-syria-weigjpg.jpg\")
Members of what the U.S. calls the Syrian Democratic Forces gather after a training session at a firing range on May 21, 2016, in northern Syria. U.S. Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of Central Command, visited the camp to consult with Syrians and talk to U.S. military advisers working with the Syrian fighters.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Robert Burns\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dirik says she is fighting for something bigger: a Syrian Kurdistan, known locally as Rojava, which already is a semi-autonomous region of northeastern Syria comprised of three self-governing cantons. Judy Ossi, who runs a humanitarian coordination office for her canton, Jazira, said the focus on war is obscuring the suffering of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, whose numbers she said already are overwhelming and are likely to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The women of the YPJ revealed no fear of combat. Zana said she initially was afraid of the Islamic State, knowing of their brutal tactics, including beheadings. But once she joined the YPJ and began training, her fears disappeared, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That strength-in-numbers theme applies as well to the broader U.S. strategy in Syria. The Americans hope they can pull together enough local fighters to capture the main prize in northern Syria: Raqqa, the Islamic State’s self-declared capital. Raqqa already is largely isolated, with signs that IS fears an imminent offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. has organized the fighters into an umbrella group it calls the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. It is comprised mostly of Syrian Kurds, numbering at least 25,000 fighters, with a smaller element of Syrian Arabs numbering perhaps 5,000 to 6,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One U.S. adviser here estimated the SDF will need perhaps 6,000 to 10,000 fighters for a Raqqa offensive. The U.S. strategy relies on training, organizing and advising local fighters for such combat, rather than committing American forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That has proven to be a slow approach, subject to much criticism in Congress. It is based on a belief that the locals are best able to sustain a lasting defeat of the militant group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Votel, who inherited the strategy when he took over Central Command in April from the plan’s main military architect, Gen. Lloyd Austin, said in an interview that he believes it is working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key, he said, is tailoring U.S. support for the local Arab, Kurd and other local fighters so that they can do things their own way, “not trying to replicate how we would do things.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It may not be the exact way we would do something in the American army or a Western military force, but the approach they take works for them. That’s what’s important,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Barcham Zana knows her enemy. It is the Islamic State, which she calls “darkness.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":80233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":10,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[10,15,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2496],"class_list":["post-73055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"74ZK3RO22NDYXLSBSDLBAV7GLY","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2016\/05\/23\/u-s-military-trains-eclectic-group-of-anti-isis-fighters\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n