US to Send More Troops to Iraq ahead of Mosul Battle

Local Editor

The move comes under the pretext of assisting local forces in the battle to retake Mosul from Daesh [the Arabic Acronym for the terrorist "ISIS"/ "ISIL" group] that is expected later this year, US and Iraqi officials said Wednesday.

The new deployment is the third such boost in US troop levels in Iraq since April.

"American President Barack Obama was consulted on a request from the Iraqi government for a final increase in the number of trainers and advisers under the umbrella of the international coalition in Iraq," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement.

The new troops will train and advise Iraqi security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, primarily in the Mosul fight but also serve "to protect and expand Iraqi security forces' gains elsewhere in Iraq," US War Secretary Ash Carter said.

He further said: "We've said all along - whenever we see opportunities to accelerate the campaign, we want to seize them."

Some of the 615 new service members will be based at Qayyarah air base, about 60 kilometers from Mosul, Carter said. Iraqi forces recaptured the base from Daesh militants in July and have been building it into a logistics hub to support their offensive into the northern city.

Other US troops will go to Ain al-Assad air base in western Iraq, where hundreds of US personnel have been training Iraqi army forces.

Carter declined to name other locations where the new US forces will be based.

However, he said that some of the forces would help enhance intelligence gathering efforts, particularly related to Daesh's plans to conduct attacks outside its own territory.

"We are prepared to continue to help the Iraqi security forces consolidate their control over the country," Carter said.

He also added: "Mosul will be the last of the very large cities that needs to be recaptured but they'll need to continue to consolidate control over the whole city," leaving the door open for US forces to remain in Iraq after the fall of Mosul.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the troops would be deployed to Iraq in the coming weeks.

To send the new troops, the White House will raise its cap on US forces in Iraq from 4,647 to 5,262 troops, a senior US military official said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team