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BAGHDAD / AFP
Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said on Monday that Washington will deploy 560 additional troops to aid Iraq’s fight to retake Mosul from extremists, further deepening US military involvement in the country.
The announcement, which will bring the total authorised number of American military personnel in Iraq to more than 4,600, came two days after Baghdad announced the recapture of a base south of Mosul that is seen as an important step toward the eventual battle for the city.
Iraq’s second city Mosul has been under IS group control since June 2014, when the extremists overran large parts of Iraq, carrying out atrocities including summary execution-style killings, mass kidnappings and rape.
IS also holds territory in neighbouring Syria, but has lost significant ground in both countries, and Carter wants to highlight successes, even as the extremists have struck back with devastating attacks in Iraq and abroad.
“I am pleased to report today that… we agreed for the US to bolster Iraqi efforts to isolate and pressure Mosul by deploying 560 additional troops,” Carter said at the Baghdad airport following meetings with the Iraqi premier and defence minister.
President Barack Obama made ending the US’s nearly nine-year war in Iraq a centrepiece of his presidency, but Washington has been drawn ever deeper back into the country by the war against IS.
‘Springboard’ to Mosul
“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.
PM Haider al-Abadi announced Saturday that Iraqi forces had recaptured the Qayyarah airbase, some 60 kms 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.
Earlier in the day, Carter held meetings with Abadi as well as Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi. “Let me begin… by expressing the condolences of myself and the United States for the terrorist attacks against the people of Iraq in recent weeks,” Carter told Abadi on his fourth visit to the country since becoming defence secretary in 2015. IS has carried out bloody attacks against civilians as they lose ground.