The U.S. intends to establish a new military base in Anbar province, Iraq, and send up to 500 more trainers to help the Iraqi army take back Ramadi — the province’s largest city — from Islamic State militants, according to news reports.
The Associated Press, quoting unnamed sources, reports the administration is considering sending up to 500 more U.S. troops to help train Iraqi forces in light of recent setbacks against the Islamic State group.
“The changes are aimed at bolstering the participation of Sunni tribes in the fight, but the plan is not likely to include the deployment of U.S. forces closer to the front lines to either call in airstrikes or advise smaller Iraqi units in battle,” the AP reports.
A Wednesday article in the New York Times indicated that the White House would announce the major shift in policy later in the day. It suggested the fall of Ramadi last month settled, for now, months of behind-the-scenes debate on how to retake Mosul, a large northern Iraqi city that the Islamic State group has held since June 2014.
American officials said Ramadi would be the starting point of a long-range plan to eventually take Mosul, possibly not until 2016, according to the Times. The new troops would arrive as early as this summer.
The new base, the report said, would be located near the town of Habbaniya at the Iraqi base Al Taqqaddum.
American soldiers have been deploying to Iraq since the summer of 2014 to help the army attempt to stop the rapid advance of the Islamic State group.
About 3,000 troops are in Iraq now, and soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters are deploying there this month.
There are currently about 3,000 troops there now, the Times report said. That includes elements of the 82nd Airborne Division.
The Iraqi army as well as Shia and Kurdish militia have stemmed the tide in northern Iraq, retaken Tikrit in March and kept the Islamic State group out of Baghdad. But losses in Ramadi and the inability to retake other areas from the militant group, which still controls large swaths in Iraq and Syria, has led to criticisms of the Iraqi army’s will to fight and the U.S. military’s will to commit needed resources to help.
President Obama plans to meet with Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday afternoon, and the stepped-up military assistance is a likely topic.
USA Today contributed to this report.
