Official: U.S. forces to establish new headquarters in Iraq’s Anbar
U.S. soldiers deployed in Iraq
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) – U.S. forces will establish a new headquarters in western Anbar, a move which is expected to give the Americans a chance to seize control of the border areas with Nineveh, a well-placed municipal official said.
Speaking to Almaalomah news agency on Sunday, member of the Anbar provincial council Mohamed al-Delimy said that American forces have been surprisingly stationed 30 km north of the Euphrates river, a location seen as vital to control the desert areas between Anbar and Nineveh provinces.
Al-Delimy warned that Islamic State militants had used the border areas between the two provinces to launch armed attacks against security personnel stationed there.
The U.S. forces are now situated in two camps, one at the Iraqi Tanaf crossing, and the other near the phosphate mines south of Qaem, Anbar, Qatari newspaper quoted officials as saying earlier this year.
Last March, the Iraqi parliament obliged the government to set a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country after the military operations against Islamic State militants ended last December.
The officials noted that those forces contribute to the rehabilitation of Iraqi artillery forces damaged by the war.
The U.S. has led an international coalition backing Iraqi forces against IS since 2014. The Pentagon had said late 2017 it maintained slightly more than 8000 troops in Iraq.