US to send 615 more troops to Iraq

The US will send 615 new troops to Iraq to assist local forces in the battle to retake Mosul from Daesh, US and Iraqi officials revealed today.

The new deployment is the third such boost in US troop levels in Iraq since April, underscoring the difficulties President Barack Obama has had in extracting the US military from the country.

“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 Defence Secretary Ash Carter said.

“We’ve said all along – whenever we see opportunities to accelerate the campaign, we want to seize them,” Carter said.

Though Iraqi forces will be in the combat role, “American forces combating ISIL in Iraq are in harm’s way,” Carter said, using an acronym for Daesh.

“We are prepared to continue to help the Iraqi security forces consolidate their control over the country.”

“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,” he added, leaving the door open for US forces to remain in Iraq after the fall of Mosul.

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

The United States currently has 4,565 troops in Iraq as part of a US-led coalition providing extensive air support, training and advice to the Iraqi military.

US and Iraqi commanders say the push on Mosul could begin by the second half of October. Carter said the campaign to expel Daesh from Mosul would intensify “in the coming weeks”.