US sending more troops to Iraq to help retake Mosul

US sending more troops to Iraq to help retake Mosul

Additional 560 troops headed to Qayyarah West airfield, south of Mosul

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S. is sending an additional 560 troops to Iraq to help local forces retake the country’s second largest city, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Monday.

Daesh captured Mosul in 2014 and it has since become the group’s de facto Iraqi capital.

The additional U.S. troops will be sent to the Qayyarah West airfield, Carter said, which is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Mosul.

The airfield was recaptured by Iraqi forces this past weekend, and Carter said that it demonstrated Iraqi forces' "strong will to fight".

Carter announced the additional troop surge after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Kurdish regional government President Masoud Barzani and Iraqi defense minister Khaled al-Obaidi.

“At every step in this campaign, we have generated and seized additional opportunities to hasten ISIL’s lasting defeat,” Carter told U.S. troops during a trip to Baghdad. “With these additional U.S. forces we’ll bring unique capabilities to the campaign and provide critical support to Iraqi forces at a key moment in the fight."

Ousting Daesh from Mosul will be a critical step in defeating the group in Iraq and it will likely be a timely and costly endeavor with the terror group having had two years to fortify its positions there.

Abadi wants to retake the strategic city by the end of the year, according to Carter.

The additional deployments will take the official tally of U.S. troops in Iraq to over 4,600. But that number is likely higher when taking into account service members who are sent to Iraq on a temporary basis.

The Pentagon does not count them in its official force calculations.

Carter will host his anti-Daesh coalition counterparts in Washington later this month to discuss the campaign.

“As we pursue our next plays, we and our partners will continue to look at what more we can do to create and seize opportunities and accelerate ISIL’s lasting defeat,” Carter said.


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