America's War in Syria

This insider assessment of American military involvement in Syria offers “a fascinating and down-to-earth look at the war against [ISIS]” (Military Heritage Magazine).

The US military campaign in alliance with Kurdish forces in Syria remains a rare success story in the age of the War on Terror. Considering the military victory, the civilian government that followed the fighting, the light military footprint and the strong link to Kurdish partners, the intervention against ISIS in Syria is widely regarded as the nation’s most successful campaign since World War II.

In this volume, three authors who participated directly in the conflict offer a rare ground-level view of how it turned into a just war. Between the three of them, they participated in all the large Kurdish operations against the Islamic State between late 2014 and mid-2016. They endured muddy archaic trench warfare, witnessed the first waves of decisive US and British airstrikes against ISIS, and experienced the impact America had on the battlefield.

Later, when American, British and French Special Forces were deployed at the front lines, the authors worked closely with those teams, evacuating hundreds of wounded from the battlefield together. Based on their unique insights, they analyses America’s war in Syria, identifying its distinct phases from the secretive build up to the ultimate destruction of the ISIS Caliphate.