“Most of the advisers are expected to be special forces operators who will work with smaller-sized units then they had previously to provide tactical guidance as the Iraqi army’s 15th Division advances toward Mosul”, notes Stars and Stripes.
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Obama said his expectation is that by the end of the year, they will have created the conditions whereby Mosul will eventually fall.
Most of the additional troops would probably be Army special forces, who have been used to advise and assist the Iraqis. The remainder would include some trainers, security forces for the advisers, and maintenance teams for the Apaches.
The additional 217 troops announced Monday will raise the authorized level to 4,087 from 3,870, though the Pentagon acknowledged the number can go even higher when servicemembers are deployed on temporary assignments.
‘Grudging incrementalism, ‘ McCain called it.
Iraqi security forces pose in front of an Islamic State flag after taking back Ramadi.
Eight Apache helicopters will be provided by the United States, because these can respond quickly to any tactical situation.
At a February 9 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Vincent Stewart, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said Mosul will be a “complex operation”.
It has taken this long to bring Mosul within the Iraqis’ gunsights because they have been slow to leverage US training, partly because of sectarian conflict and political gridlock in Baghdad.
Speaking to USA troops at the airport in Baghdad, Carter also said that the US will send an additional long-range, rocket-assisted artillery system to Iraq.
He said the 217 new advisers would be doing “largely what we’ve been doing all along, which is providing the kind of military advice and access to enablers that help our partners on the ground against the enemy – so access to coalition fires and logistics support, things of that nature”.
“Doctors were threatened to take out the body organs of a wounded ISIL militant”, the Arabic-language al-Sabah newspaper reported citing an unnamed source in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
Lt. Gen. Sean McFarland, the commander of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, told reporters that more American troops could be deployed.
“The amount of the aid and how it will be distributed was discussed on March 16, 2016 with Kurdish President Masoud Barzani”, said the source.
Carter said the Peshmerga have been one of the most effective fighting forces against ISIL. The secretary also will visit Saudi Arabia and participate in the U.S. Gulf Cooperation Council defense meeting.
Turkish troops also killed 18 ISIS fighters in a botched attack on the camp the following month.
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The U.S.is sending 200 additional troops and, for the first time, Apache attack helicopters, to help Iraqi forces retake Mosul from the extremist group, according to Pentagon chief Ash Carter.
