US deploys 160 troops to Iraq to fight Daesh

Iran Press TV

Sat Sep 19, 2015 5:41AM

The US Army has deployed an extra 160 troops to a military airbase in Iraq to purportedly push back the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group which has also captured swathes of land from neighboring Syria.

The American soldiers landed at a military base east of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, Iraq's largest and westernmost province that borders Syria, according to media reports.

Hundreds of US military personnel are already stationed at Iraq's Habbaniyah airbase as part of a so-called training and advising mission.

The expansion of the US military presence in Anbar comes as it is pushing to limit the presence of Iraqi volunteer forces and their participation in decisive battles to liberate the restive province from the Daesh Takfiri group.

"The new forces' mission does not appear to be training the Iraqi army or the tribes fighting with me," an Iraqi military official said. "We expect that they will provide direct support in the upcoming battle to retake Ramadi."

The Daesh terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011. According to reports, the United States and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants operating inside the country.

ISIL terrorists, with members from several Western countries, have been active in Iraq, Syria and Libya over the past years, notorious for its acts of terror and atrocities against people of different religious and ethnic communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others.