{"id":70776,"date":"2017-05-31T19:36:35","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T19:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/05\/31\/dod-budget-request-includes-anti-tank-rockets-for-syrians-fighting-isis\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:16:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:16:46","slug":"dod-budget-request-includes-anti-tank-rockets-for-syrians-fighting-isis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/05\/31\/dod-budget-request-includes-anti-tank-rockets-for-syrians-fighting-isis\/","title":{"rendered":"DoD budget request includes anti-tank rockets for Syrians fighting ISIS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014The Defense Department’s fiscal 2018 budget request continues the program of training and equipping vetted Syrian partners in the fight against ISIS, and the proposal includes funds for U.S. AT-4 anti-tank rockets or Russian SPG-9 recoilless rifles, and several thousand RPG-7s, a move likely to irk U.S. NATO ally Turkey. The budget request provides a small window into the Trump administration’s secretive strategy to defeat ISIS. Defense officials have been reluctant to divulge information on the overall strategy for post-ISIS Iraq and Syria, but the document offers a glimpse into areas the administration views as the primary points of concern not only for taking the fight to ISIS in Syria, but also rebuilding combat power in Iraq to fight a potential post-ISIS insurgency in that country. The Pentagon has been tight-lipped about the specifics of the equipment it plans to provide to its Kurdish allies. Those concerns likely stem from Ankara’s disapproval of U.S. plans to equip members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG \u2014 a group Turkey insists is the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, an internationally designated terrorist group. “The equipment includes small arms, ammunition, heavy machine guns and weapons capable of defeating specific threats that forces are expected to encounter as they take the fight to the enemy, such as heavily armored vehicle-borne IEDs,” said Eric Pahon, a spokesperson for the Pentagon. He declined to provide any further specifics on weapon types. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

But in early May, the White House announced it was moving ahead with a plan to arm the Syrian Democratic Forces\u00a0\u2014\u00a0which includes the YPG and other Kurdish factions\u00a0\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a group Washington views as a capable ally in the fight against ISIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The SDF, partnered with enabling support from U.S. and coalition forces, [is] the only force on the ground that can successfully seize Raqqa in the near future,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told NBC News<\/a>Tuesday, referring to the Syrian city that is the\u00a0capital of ISIS’ self-proclaimed caliphate. And it has begun receiving the equipment it needs, White confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The budget document, “Justification for FY 2018 Overseas Contingency Operations \/ Counter-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Train and Equip Fund,”\u00a0is more detailed than last year’s proposal,\u00a0and likely shows the types of equipment that the U.S. government is already starting to provide with 2017 appropriations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. officials in Baghdad argue the gear will be issued on a need-by basis, meaning, as missions change, the Kurds will receive the necessary weapons and gear to meet the next obstacle, a policy aimed at allaying the concerns of Turkey that those weapons will be pointed toward Ankara after ISIS falls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Defense Department\u2019s request for FY18 includes an unusually detailed list of equipment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n