U.S. deploys 50 troops to air base in Iraq's Anbar province

U.S. deploys 50 troops to air base in Iraq's Anbar province

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. has deployed 50 troops to an air base in Iraq's troubled Anbar province to help in the fight against Islamic State (IS).

A Pentagon spokesperson said the military advisers would examine site facilities and support Iraqi forces.

The deployment is the first time U.S. troops have been sent to Anbar since U.S. air strikes against IS began in August.

U.S. forces left Iraq in 2011, but President Barack Obama last week he was sending 1,500 as advisors. Anbar, now largely under the control of Islamic State jihadsts, was previously a base for al-Qaeda in Iraq and a hotbed of resistance to U.S. forces during the years after 2003.

A spokesperson for the U.S. military's Central Command said that the 50 troops would be stationed at the Ain al-Asad air base, the largest in Anbar.

Colonel Patrick Ryder added that though the troops were operating in an advisory capacity, they would defend themselves if attacked. "A portion of the group consists of force protection personnel and any weapons U.S. forces possess are for force protection requirements," he said.

On Sunday, Nov 8, Obama said the fight against IS was entering a "new phase" after four months of air strikes.

His decision to deploy 1,500 extra troops, at a request from the Iraqi government, will almost double the U.S.'s current contingent in Iraq. "Rather than just try to halt IS's momentum, we are now in a position to start going on some offense," the president said.

However Obama has been adamant that U.S. troops, which he withdrew from Iraq in 2011, will not resume combat, insisting that they are there to train and advise.

IS has taken over large parts of Anbar province as it expands its territory, currently about one-third of both Iraq and Syria.

A U.S.-led coalition has launched more than 400 air strikes on the group in Iraq since August, and more than 300 across the border in Syria.

The strikes have destroyed hundreds of the group's armed vehicles and several of its bases, but Islamic State has continued its campaign to establish a caliphate.

On Nov 2, officials in Anbar said IS militants had killed at least 322 members of a Sunni tribe who had tried to resist the jihadists - but tribal leaders told the BBC the real toll was more than 630.

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