US to send 560 more troops to Iraq in anti-IS fight
Print Edition
THE United States will send an additional 560 military personnel to Iraq to assist in its fight against the Islamic State jihadist group, visiting Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced yesterday.
The increase will bring the total authorized number of American forces in Iraq, most of whom are in advisory or training roles, to more than 4,600, further deepening Washington’s military involvement.
“I am pleased to report today that ... we agreed for the United States to bolster Iraqi efforts to isolate and pressure Mosul by deploying 560 additional troops,” Carter said in Baghdad, referring to Iraq’s IS-held second city.
“The additional troops will provide a range of support for Iraqi security forces, including infrastructure and logistical capabilities at the airfield near Qayyarah,” the Pentagon said in a statement on Carter’s announcement.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Saturday that Iraqi forces had recaptured the Qayyarah airbase, some 60 kilometers south of Mosul, which IS seized in June 2014.
The base “will become a vital springboard for the (Iraqi forces’) offensive into Mosul”, the Pentagon said.
IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes, training and other assistance have since regained significant ground.
US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, overthrowing dictator Saddam Hussein and also setting the stage for 13 years of bloody violence in the country, including the rise of IS.
President Barack Obama hailed the pull out of US forces from Iraq at the end of 2011 as a major achievement of his presidency, but the war against IS has drawn the American military ever deeper back into Iraq.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
