ISISU.S. deploys more troops, Apache helicopters to Iraq to help in attack on Mosul
Defense secretary Ash Carter said the United States will send 200 additional troops and a number of Apache helicopters to Iraq to assist in the fight against ISIS. He added that the new forces will be used mostly to advise Iraqi forces on the front lines. The decision to deploy the troops has been made in the context of the Iraqi drive to recapture the city of Mosul.
Apache helicopter with ordnance // Source: commons.wikimedia.org
Defense secretary Ash Carter said the United States will send 200 additional troops and a number of Apache helicopters to Iraq to assist in the fight against ISIS. He added that the new forces will be used mostly to advise Iraqi forces on the front lines.
The 217 troops will likely be Special Forces. They have been used in the past to advise and assist Iraqi units.
They American troops are typically embedded with Iraqi brigades and battalions, thus often exposing them to ISIS mortar and rocket fire.
NBC reports that this is the first major increase in U.S. forces in a year, and that the decision has been made in the context of the Iraqi drive to recapture the city of Mosul.
President Barack Barack Obama pledged to increase the authorized troop level in Iraq from 3,870 to 4,087.
The deployment of the Apache helicopters means that the Iraqi campaign to retake Mosul is likely sooner rather than later.
Any attempt to evict ISIS from Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, is not going to be easy. The militants have had plenty of time to dig in and plant IEDs and landmines on the approaches to the city.
