WASHINGTON // The United States president on Wednesday approved the deployment of up to 450 more troops to Iraq, in a bid to reverse gains by the ISIL group.
The White House said the new deployment would be part of a “train, advise, and assist” mission for Iraqi government and tribal forces, which has already seen 3,000 US non-combat troops deployed.
ISIL victories in Ramadi in Iraq and Palmyra in Syria have thrown into doubt Mr Obama’s strategy of depending on US airpower and Iraqi ground forces to win the war.
Under the plan, the number of US training sites in Iraq would increase from four to five, enabling a larger number of Iraqis to join the fight against the militant group.
Most of the fighters would be Sunni tribal volunteers.
President Barack Obama made the decision at the request of Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi and based on advice from Pentagon leaders, the White House said.
“We’ve determined it is better to train more Iraqi security forces,” said Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren. “Because the forces we’ve trained are performing better than expected, we feel it’s in everyone’s interest to train more.”
Until now, Baghdad has overseen the training of Sunni tribal fighters, who are likely to be key to victory in Ramadi and Anbar province.
The Obama administration is now looking at American troops directly training those Sunni volunteers.
Iraq’s Sunni Muslim community has yet to join the fight against ISIL in large numbers.
Among Sunnis there is distrust of the Shiite-led government, which ISIL fighters have sought to exploit.
But training brings its own challenges. Mr Al Abadi’s government has struggled to provide enough recruits and to ensure units are properly equipped.
“We’d like to see more Sunnis come into the pipeline and be trained,” said Col Warren. The US-led coalition has trained 8,920 Iraqi troops so far in basic combat skills, and 2,601 are currently going through courses.
After meeting Mr Al Abadi on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Monday, Mr Obama said Iraq needed to show it could make use of extra help being offered by the anti-ISIL coalition.
* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press