The US will send special forces to Iraq and Syria to intensify fight against dreaded militant group Islamic State, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said, while calling on worldwide community to step up the pace of its contributions to the fight. “The Iraqi government wants United States troops to be helping with the effort and move ISIL off its territory”. We have the long reach that no one else has. He said it will be a “standing” force, meaning it will be stationed in Iraq.
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“We don’t know yet how many forces are going to be deployed”, she said.
Warren said only that the number of American troops assigned to the commando team would be in “double digits” (no specific number, but more than 10). “So yeah, more Americans will be coming here to Iraq and some of them will be conducting raids inside of both Iraq and Syria”.
Carter said the new unit will constitute of a “mixed force” of troops from other nations.
US special operation forces in October conducted a raid on a Daesh prison in Iraq to free 70 hostages, including Iraqi forces.
Carter says US forces will more than likely be mixed with Kurdish fighters who are already battling ISIS.
Schiff said that having a base of operations would allow ISIS to evade USA spy agencies.
The force is separate from a previously announced deployment of up to 50 United States special operations troops in Syria to coordinate on the ground with US-backed rebels fighting in a civil war raging since 2011.
“The Iraqi government stresses that any military operation or the deployment of any foreign forces – special or not – in any place in Iraq can not happen without its approval and coordination and full respect of Iraqi sovereignty”, Abadi said in a statement.
The U.S. military conducted similar operations in Iraq to take out senior Al Qaeda leadership, such as the mission led by Gen. Stanley McChrystal which killed Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in June 2006.
Defense officials said the number of special operations forces and where they will be deployed in Iraq has yet to be determined.
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“The Prime Minister has called for an increase in weapons, training, and support from global partners, while reiterating that there is no need for foreign ground combat troops”, al-Abadi said in a statement. “I told [the Baghdad-based] general MacFarland as recently as 10 days ago to not be inhibited at all in identifying capabilities he needs regardless of the force management figure”, Dunford said. He added that the group’s primary target will become USA troops if they are deployed in Iraq, warning that Kataib Hezbollah has fought Americans in the past and will fight them again.
