Special to WorldTribune.com

U.S President Barack Obama is set to authorize “direct action on the ground” against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the change in strategy on Oct. 27.

“We won’t hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground,” Carter said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee.

The new strategy will mean American soldiers “will be in harm’s way, no question about it,” Carter said last week.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, blasted Obama’s strategy against ISIL. During the Oct. 27 Senate Armed Services committee hearing, Graham called the U.S. effort a “half-assed strategy at best,” and said that Obama is not doing a “damn thing” to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.

White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz on Oct. 27 said the administration has “no intention of long term ground combat,” and added that American forces will continue to train, advise and assist anti-Assad rebels.

Experts say Obama requested the new strategy out of concern that the battle in Iraq and Syria is largely stalemated and in need of new ideas.

Other measures that were discussed by the administration’s foreign policy leaders, such as no-fly zones or buffer zones that would require tens of thousands of ground troops, were rejected by Obama’s top policy advisers.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has said that she favors a no-fly zone in Syria.

  Ashton Carter, ISIL, no question about it’, Obama edges off the fence? U.S. troops ‘will be in harm’s way, Sen. Lindsey Graham, WorldTribune.com