US adds 560 troops to Iraq force for Mosul campaign

The additional soldiers will bring the total authorised number of American military personnel in Iraq to more than 4,600.

US defence aecretary Ash Carter, left, shakes hands with Iraqi defence minister Khaled Al Obeidi at the defence ministry in Baghdad. AP Photo

Baghdad // Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said on Monday that Washington will deploy 560 additional troops to aid Iraq’s fight to retake Mosul from ISIL.

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 ISIL control since June 2014, when the extremists overran large parts of Iraq, carrying out atrocities including summary execution-style killings, mass kidnappings and rape.

ISIL also holds territory in Syria, but has lost significant ground in both countries, and Mr Carter wants to highlight successes, even as the group have struck back with devastating attacks in Iraq and abroad.

“I am pleased to report today that... we agreed for the United States to bolster Iraqi efforts to isolate and pressure Mosul by deploying 560 additional troops,” Mr 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 deeper back into the country by the war against ISIL.

“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.

Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi announced on Saturday that Iraqi forces had recaptured the Qayyarah airbase, some 60 kilometres south of Mosul, which ISIL seized in June 2014.

The base “will become a vital springboard for the offensive into Mosul”, the Pentagon said.

Earlier, Mr Carter held meetings with Mr Al 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,” Mr Carter told Mr Al Abadi on his fourth visit to the country since becoming defence secretary in 2015.

ISIL has carried out bloody attacks against civilians as they lose ground, including a bombing in Baghdad earlier this month that killed 292 people, one of the deadliest to ever hit the country.

Ahead of his meetings, Mr Carter said he would discuss the next moves in the war against ISIL.

“What I’ll be discussing with Prime Minister Abadi and our commanders there are the next plays in the campaign, which involve the collapse and control over Mosul,” he said.

The ultimate goal was “the recapture of all of Iraqi territory by the Iraqi security forces, but of course Mosul is the biggest part of that.”

US defence officials say the campaign’s first “10 plays” have been successfully completed in the US-led counter-ISIL campaign in Iraq and Syria.

These steps include the recapture of several important areas across the two countries, including Ramadi in Iraq and Al Shadadi, a town in north-eastern Syria previously considered a strategic ISIL stronghold.

Mr Carter and Mr Obama have been criticised for the pace of the campaign, which began in autumn 2014 and got off to a slow start, particularly in Syria, where the United States had few assets on the ground to provide targeting information.

The Pentagon has announced a series of measures to speed up the war, including a revised mission to train anti-ISIL rebels in northern Syria and extra advisers for Iraqi forces.

Coupled with coalition air support, the results have seen the ISIL group losing roughly half its territory in Iraq and about 20 per cent of its Syria claim, the Pentagon said.

*Agence France-Presse