US President Barack Obama is reportedly preparing to approve the deployment of more US troops to Iraq to train up local forces fighting Islamic State. BBC reports:
He is considering up to 500 additional troops as well as a new training base in Iraq’s Anbar province, unnamed US officials were quoted as saying.
President Obama said earlier this week the US lacked a “complete strategy” for helping Iraq regain territory from IS. IS has recently made gains in Iraq despite US-led coalition air strikes.
In May the militants seized Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, Iraq’s largest province, as well as the Syrian town of Tadmur and the neighbouring ancient ruins of Palmyra. IS fighters took control of Iraq’s second city Mosul a year ago.
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