Talking to reporters before his arrival in Baghdad, Carter termed capture of Qayara airbase as a key strategic victory.
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“The U.S. will provide all the required support to meet the requirements of the Iraqi forces and to speed up the operations to liberate Mosul”, the ministry’s statement said.
The recapture of Mosul, Islamic State’s de facto Iraqi capital from which its leader declared a modern-day caliphate in 2014, would be a major boost for Abadi and USA plans to weaken IS, which has staged attacks in the West and inspired others. But that tally doesn’t include special operations forces and temporary deployments that bring the total to more than 5,000.
At least nine people were killed and 32 wounded on Tuesday when a auto packed with explosives was detonated in a district just north of Baghdad, security and medical sources said.
US forces have already visited Qayara to check on its condition, and advisors can offer specialised engineering support in Mosul, US officials said.
“We need to move to this place to be as close to the fighting as we have been”, said Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the head of USA forces in Iraq, who addressed members of the media with Carter after the announcement at the airport in Baghdad.
Iraqi forces retook the Qayara air base from the Islamic State group on Saturday. Marine Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin was killed at the fire base in March in an IS rocket attack.
Mosul is now the only major city in the country the Iraqis do not control, and the Islamic State has not seized any substantial new territory since May 2015.
The growing number of US troops at Qayyarah are expected to serve as a launching pad for the long-delayed key fight for Mosul, which ISIS has occupied since June 2014 following the collapse of its Iraqi defenders.
Hundreds of US marines are already deployed in Iraq, serving as trainers and advisers, and were helping the country to win the battle against the IS extremists in Iraq’s western province of Anbar as well as in northern regions. They previously were limited to advising at headquarters and division levels, further away.
“You will now embark on the next major steps of our campaign-to collapse [ISIS] control over Mosul here in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria”, Carter told US troops during an unannounced visit to Baghdad.
Iraqi security forces said they defused a second explosive truck parked underneath the Rashidiya bridge.
MacFarland said the new forces won’t go any closer to the fight than other troops operating out of Makhmour or Taqaddum, a staging base for the battles in Ramadi and Fallujah. Iraqi forces recently retook both cities.
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Islamic State militants, however, still control large swaths of the country and continue to launch deadly attacks, including the massive suicide bombing July 3 at Baghdad’s bustling commercial area of Karada. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation will use surveillance aircraft to collect intelligence, and will begin training Iraqi forces inside the country.
