US-led Anti ’ISIL’ Coalition to Send Additional 1,500 Troops to Iraq

Local Editor

US allies are ready to send roughly 1,500 security personnel to Iraq to help the Baghdad government in its fight against the "ISIL", the American commander of the war effort said Monday.

The move follows Washington's decision to double its military footprint to 3,100 troops.

Members of the US-led coalition meeting last week in the region made initial pledges that would bring "close" to 1,500 forces to Iraq to train and assist the country's army, in addition to the Americans already mobilized, Lieutenant General James Terry told reporters in Kuwait City.

The base now serves as the headquarters for US forces in Iraq, officials said.
The US general did not indicate which countries from the coalition would provide the security personnel or how many of them would be in uniform or otherwise.
Terry said he was encouraged by the results of the December 2-3 gathering of coalition representatives, with allies eager to send trainers.

"When you start now to balance the different capabilities out across the coalition, I think we're doing pretty well in terms of boots on the ground," Terry told reporters traveling with Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel.

But the details of the contributions were still being discussed.

"We're still working through it," he said. "I want to give them time to go back to their nations' capitals and work out the specifics of that."
He said "the large percentage" of the personnel to be deployed would be training Iraqi troops.

There are already about 1,500 US troops in Iraq providing security for the American embassy.

Last month President Barack Obama approved the deployment of another 1,500 troops.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team