On Monday, visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Washington will send 560 more troops to Iraq to help battle IS. The Qayyarah Airbase West is located about 60 kilometers south of Mosul.
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Carter told reporters ahead of Monday’s trip that the United States would now help turn Qayara into a logistics hub.
Speaking to Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, a medical official confirmed the casualty figures.
During his visit, he also met Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi and the top US military commander in the region Lt General Sean MacFarland.
Even with the latest deployment announced by Department of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday, total USA troop strength in Iraq is unlikely to exceed 6,500, the report explained.
What were the 10 plays? Establishing a staging base in Makhmour has been considered a crucial step in encircling Mosul.
It was behind two large-scale attacks last week that killed around 300 people.
Carter said the new troops will be deployed in coming days and weeks.
Carter said the general and his staff would bring “that substantial experience and tradecraft that we learned by hard experience in Iraq and Afghanistan”. In addition to taking part in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation advisory-and-assist mission, the USA has special operations forces in the country that conduct counterterrorism missions.
Still, the latest US force increase comes less than three months after Washington announced it would dispatch about 200 more soldiers to accompany Iraqi troops advancing towards Mosul.
Mosul, in the northern part of the country, has been in the hands of the Islamic State since the summer of 2014 when its forces displaced hundreds of thousands of residents, many of whom left with little to no possessions.
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But while that goal has been reached, USA official say additional training might be needed for those groups. For example, when the fight for Ramadi involved layer after layer of improvised explosive devices, USA forces gave counter-IED training to soldiers previously trained in other skills. “This is an effort to reinforce our support for Iraqi forces that are enjoying some success in driving ISIL out of strategic, important areas in Iraq, that can put them in a position to succeed on a much bigger goal: driving ISIL out of Iraq’s second largest city”.
