WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of up to 450 more U.S. troops to Iraq on Wednesday to advise and assist local forces in an effort to reverse the recent gains of ISIS.
Under the plan, the United States will open a fifth training site in Iraq, with the goal of integrating Iraqi security forces and Sunni fighters. The immediate objective is to retake the city of Ramadi, seized by the ISIS last month.
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. The U.S. troops will not be used in a combat role.
“These new advisers will work to build the capacity of Iraqi forces, including local tribal fighters, to improve their ability to plan, lead, and conduct operations against ISIS in eastern Anbar under the command of the prime minister,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
ISIS has seized sizeable areas of both Syria and Iraq.
The plan is not a change in U.S. strategy, the administration said, but addresses a need to get Sunnis more involved in the fight, a much-cited weakness in the current mission.
Strategy
Questions remain about the Shiite-led Iraqi government’s commitment to recruit fighters, especially among Sunni tribesmen, to oust ISIS from Ramadi and Fallujah, a nearby city the terrorists have held for more than a year.
Up to now, Iraqi officials have chosen to deploy most U.S.-trained Iraqi troops in defensive formations around Baghdad, the capital.
The new training site will be at al-Taqqadum, a desert air base that was a U.S. military hub during the 2003–2011 war. The additional troops will include advisers, trainers, logisticians, and security personnel.
