U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter gave few details about the expanded effort, but told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on December 1 that the force would be able to conduct raids in both Iraq and Syria.
Carter and the top U.S. military commander, General Joseph Dunford, faced tough questions from committee members as they gave an optimistic view of the fight against IS militants.
About 3,500 U.S. troops are in Iraq and recently helped Iraqi Kurdish forces and other units take back the strategic city of Sinjar from IS fighters.
Carter said the "expeditionary targeting force" will conduct raids, rescue hostages, gather intelligence, and aim to capture or kill leaders of IS, which has seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria.
rferl.org
1/12/15
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Related:
Russia will suffer casualties as it steps up its military activity in Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter warned Thursday.
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Powerful Iraqi Shiite Muslim armed groups on Tuesday rejected and pledged to fight any deployment of U.S. forces to the country after the United States said it was sending an elite special operations unit to combat ISIS...
ReplyDeleteDefense Secretary Ash Carter offered few details on the new "expeditionary" group, but said it would be larger than the roughly 50 U.S. special operations troops being sent to Syria to fight the ultra-hardline Sunni militants there.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new force will be based in Iraq.
"We will chase and fight any American force deployed in Iraq," said Jafaar Hussaini, a spokesman for one of the groups, Kata'ib Hezbollah. "Any such American force will become a primary target for our group. We fought them before and we are ready to resume fighting.".....Reuters