The Norwegian government said it might send special forces soldiers to Syria, to help with counter-Islamic State (ISIS) efforts in that country, after its parliament authorized it to do so on Wednesday. “Local forces [fighting ISIS] are making more progress than we could have expected. It is therefore more on the agenda that coalition forces should be able to train, advise and give operational support on Syrian territory in their battle against IS,” said Norway’s defense minister, Ine Eriksen Soreide, in a statement. Norway also wants to send at least 60 soldiers to Jordan to help train anti-ISIS Syrian fighters. It already has 120 soldiers in the Kurdistan Region where they are training Iraqi and Kurdish forces who are fighting ISIS. On the ground in Syria the US-led anti-ISIS coalition is supporting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their fight against ISIS by providing it with training and close air support. American and French special forces are already on the ground training and advising the SDF in their ongoing offensives against ISIS. So far this year the SDF has managed to force ISIS completely out of the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah, has made advances into the northern parts of the province of Raqqa and is currently undertaking a large-scale offensive against ISIS in the northwestern Syrian city of Manbij, which they currently have completely encircled and under siege.
