“There may be a situation in which there is another base that is opened or reopened from years passed that would be used in the same manner as a fire support base”, said Joint Staff Vice Director for Operations Rear Admiral Andrew Lewis.
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U.S. Army Major Jon-Paul Depreo, operations officer for the worldwide coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, said at the weekend the insurgents were determined not to lose Nasr because of its strategic position on high ground.
As coalition partners enhance their efforts to train, equip and advise Iraqi security forces, Iraqi police forces are training to enable the Iraqi government to hold ground as security forces liberate areas from ISIL control. “We’ve got to keep on putting the pressure on them”.
He said those outposts would be behind the front lines and would be used the way U.S. Marines are operating out of what has been known as Fire Base Bell, outside Makhmour.
On Wednesday, Lewis said that USA forces could establish additional bases in Iraq as part of that accelerated campaign.
Nearly three weeks into the operation, Iraqi forces have retaken just three villages from IS forces in the Makhmur area, which is set to be a key staging ground for a future assault on Mosul, around 60 kilometers further north.
“Their mission is to provide fires and support of Iraqi forces, just like we do with airplanes, just it’s surface-to-surface fires (versus) air-to-surface fires”, he said. Baghdad aims to retake the entire Mosul in 2016. “We intend to be more efficient by integrating functions like logistics, intelligence and plans”, he said.
He did not provide additional details.
In late January, the military estimated that the U.S.-led coalition had trained about 20,000 Iraqi Security Forces.
The officials declined to disclose the exact increase under consideration but one of them said it would leave the United States special operations contingent many times larger than “the around 50 troops” now in Syria.
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Obama, his wife, Michelle, and Vice President Joe Biden were also hosting a White House dinner for the military leaders.
