U.S. forces have already visited Qayara to check on its condition, and advisors can offer specialized engineering support in Mosul, where Islamic State has blown up bridges across the Tigris, U.S. officials said. It is Obama’s second US troop increase in Iraq in the last three months, and it brings the total USA force authorization there to 4,647.
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“Our decision: Iraq is neither a place for ISIL nor for USA”.
The U.S. will deploy an additional 560 troops to Iraq, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday.
The Qayyarah-based force will be allowed to accompany Iraqi troops at the battalion level, and thus closer to the front lines than USA troops who are largely confined to Iraqi division headquarters.
“The additional troops will provide a range of support for Iraqi security forces, including infrastructure and logistical capabilities at the airfield near Qayyarah”, the Pentagon said in a statement.
The additional 560 troops will help retake Mosul, the largest city still controlled by the Islamic State.
“What I’ll be discussing with Prime Minister Abadi and our commanders there are the next plays in the campaign, which involve the collapse and control over Mosul”, he said.
– As the United States sends more troops to Iraq to help retake Mosul from the Islamic State, Catholics can view the action as just even while remaining vigilant about the long-term mission, one moral theologian said.
Still, the latest USA force increase comes less than three months after Washington announced it would dispatch about 200 more soldiers to accompany Iraqi troops advancing towards Mosul.
The extremist group was behind two large-scale attacks last week that killed more than 300 people.
“The presence of foreign troops is an understandably combustible issue for Iraq; the scars of past battles are, for many Iraqis, equal to current battles against the Islamic State”, the report stated. But the Iraqis have been unable to prevent the Islamic State from carrying out devastating suicide attacks in Baghdad, including one earlier this month from which the death toll has reached 186.
Iraqi military officials said in interviews Monday that there was substantial damage to the air base that would require significant repairs.
Government forces have said they recovered the air base, about 60 km (40 miles) from the northern city, with air support from the US-led military coalition.
However, there is still debate in Washington about the timing of a move on Mosul.
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Iraqi government forces deployed in most of Baghdad on Tuesday, closing off main roads and snarling traffic.
