Amid persistent setbacks in the fight against the Islamic State, President Barack Obama turned his military’s focus to the Sunni-Shiite divide, ordering hundreds of troops to Iraq to better integrate Iraqi forces and lay the groundwork to retake Ramadi and other key cities.
The expanded military campaign will set up a new base in Anbar Province to advise Iraqi forces on how to plan and organize operations and help them reach out to Sunni tribes and bring them into the battle.
But it leaves out any move to send US forces closer to the front lines, either to call in airstrikes or <g data-gr-id="15">advise</g> smaller battlefront units, underscoring Obama’s reluctance to plunge the military deeper into war and risk the sight of more body bags coming home from Iraq.
Under the plan announced Wednesday, up to 450 more American troops will deploy to Iraq in the next six to eight weeks and set up a fifth training site al-Taqaddum, a desert air base that was a US military hub during the 2003-2011 war.The site will be dedicated to helping the Iraqi Army integrate Sunni tribes into the fight, an element seen as a crucial to driving the Islamic State out of the Sunni-majority areas of western Iraq.
It will include delivery of US equipment and arms to Iraq, including directly to troops at al-Taqaddum, under Baghdad’s authority.