US troops deploy in Iraq’s front-line Anbar province

About 50 military personnel are at Al Asad airbase to prepare the way for a larger contingent of advisers and trainers to assist Iraqi security forces in the fight against ISIL.

Demonstrators chant pro-ISIL slogans as they wave the militant group's flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, Iraq. AP Photo

BAGHDAD // A team of US troops was on the ground in Iraq’s front-line Anbar province on Tuesday as Washington steps up efforts to help Iraqi forces battle ISIL.

The Pentagon confirmed that about 50 military personnel were at Al Asad airbase to prepare the way for a larger contingent of advisers and trainers to assist Iraqi security forces.

President Barack Obama has announced plans to double the number of American troops in Iraq to 3,000 as US-led efforts against the militants enter what he called a “new phase”.

Parts of mainly-Sunni Anbar province have become a stronghold for ISIL and Iraqi forces have been on the retreat in recent weeks, falling back to the Asad airbase.

The desert airfield was a sprawling hub for American troops and aircraft during the 2003 to 2011 occupation of Iraq.

A string of battlefield defeats for Iraqi forces has led to warnings that Anbar, which stretches from borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approach to Baghdad, could fall entirely.

ISIL has seized control of large parts of Iraq and Syria, declaring a “caliphate” in June and committing widespread atrocities.

Its influence has steadily grown, with Egypt’s deadliest militant group Ansar Beit Al Maqdis on Monday pledging allegiance to ISIL.

Washington has forged an alliance of Western and Arab nations to take on the group and launched a barrage of airstrikes in Syria and Iraq on ISIL positions.

One of the strikes on Friday was reported to have hit a gathering of ISIL leaders but there has been no confirmation of reports that ISIL chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi was wounded or killed.

US officials have insisted the mission will not see US troops engage in combat and are instead pushing for local forces to tackle ISIL on the ground.

Also on Tuesday, Iraqi military officials said troops had recaptured the heart of the town of Beiji, home to the country’s largest oil refinery, from ISIL.

Retaking Beiji, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, could allow Iraqi forces a base to attack neighbouring Tikrit, taken by the extremists after their lightning advance this summer. It also represents a morale boost for Iraq’s beleaguered security forces, which saw many troops flee the militant offensive.

For Syria the United States has approved plans to train 5,000 recruits from among moderate rebel forces battling president Bashar Al Assad, but Washington came under fire on Tuesday for having a “confused” strategy.

The leader of the moderate Syrian opposition, Hadi Al Bahra, said no strategy to target the militants would work as long as Mr Al Assad remains in power.

“The coalition is fighting the symptom of the problem, which is [ISIL], without addressing the main cause, which is the regime,” Mr Al Bahra told The Guardian newspaper.

“The whole operation has been confused. Airstrikes will not be able to win the battle against extremism. You have to defeat [ISIL] on the ground,” said Mr Al Bahra, who heads the Syrian National Coalition.

“And you have to deal with the main cause and source of extremism, which is the regime itself.”

After meeting Mr Al Bahra on Monday, British foreign secretary Philip Hammond promised London would make “a significant contribution” to equip and train the moderate opposition.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said coalition airstrikes are not enough to defeat “terrorism and extremism” in Iraq and Syria as he urged the world to take action against factors fuelling radicalism there — a suggestion that also took aim at the Syrian regime.

Kurds fighting ISIL in Kobani made advances on Tuesday in the south of the flashpoint Syrian town on the border with Turkey, a monitoring group said.

“The [Kurdish] People’s Protection Units (YPG) recaptured streets and buildings in the south of Kobani, after a fierce battle against [ISIL] that began yesterday [Monday] evening,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The battle against ISIL has in recent months overshadowed the civil war in Syria, where more than 195,000 people have been killed since the start of an uprising in March 2011.

After the failure of previous peace bids, the United Nations is now pushing a plan for what UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has called a “freeze” in fighting in limited areas.

Mr Al Assad said on Monday he was ready to consider such a plan for the city of Aleppo, Syria’s former economic hub that has been devastated by fighting.

Aleppo has been split into rebel- and army-held areas since a major insurgent offensive began there, with near-daily air raids targeting rebel-held districts and reportedly killing mostly civilians.

The situation in Syria was part of discussions between Mr Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in China on Tuesday, the White House said.

* Agence France-Presse