The Marine Corps says it's ready to move into Syria and take down the Islamic State.
"Could we go in there with a Marine force, into Raqqa, and pound these guys into the ground like a tent peg? Could we? Absolutely," Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said in an interview with
The Military Times.
"Some Marines would get hurt, but we'd go kick [the Islamic State] in the butt. No problem . . . At the end of the day, if we get called to go, we'll go."
Neller told the newspaper that about 3,500 U.S. troops now advise and support Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
He also believes the deadly terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 may be a sign the Islamic State is about "to crack."
"My sense is they did these things in Europe to try to distract attention from what's happening to them in Syria because they're getting pounded into the ground by airstrikes. So they had to take the pressure off," he said.