U.S. to send more troops to aid bid to reclaim Mosul
WASHINGTON — President Obama is preparing to send more troops to Iraq to help reclaim the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The troops will train and advise Iraqi forces as planning for the Mosul operation ramps up, officials said. Though the precise number of troops was not immediately disclosed, one official said roughly 600 additional troops would be sent.
It wasn’t clear whether the troops would include special operations forces, some of which are already serving in Iraq.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the development before the official announcement, expected later Wednesday.
The decision expands the U.S. military footprint in Iraq just as Obama readies to hand over the conflict to his successor in January. The U.S. has roughly 4,600 troops in Iraq, according to the Pentagon, although the figure doesn’t include some troops including those there on temporary duty.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, in a statement posted on his official website, said the added troops would “provide support for security forces and the Iraqi heroes in the fight looming in the liberation of Mosul.” He said the Obama administration had approved his government’s request for the increase.
“We emphasize that the role of the trainers and advisers is not combat, but for training and consultation only,” Abadi said, adding: “It is our troops who will liberate the land.”
With Americans weary after years of an unpopular war in Iraq, Obama has tried to emphasize that the troops deployed there now are in advisory roles, not combat. Yet even if they’re not waging war from the front lines, the troops have been embedded with Iraqis, putting them in dangerous situations where fighting could break out.