URGENT: USA deploys 350 more troops to Baghdad, calls on Iraq’s Sunnis to confront ISIS
(IraqiNews.com) On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of 350 additional soldiers to protect the American Embassy in Baghdad and reaffirmed that American troops will not play a combat role.
The spokesman for the Pentagon, Admiral John Kirby, said at a press conference today that, “This step will raise the total number of the US military personnel who are responsible for enhancing the security of the Embassy and the diplomatic mission in Iraq to about 820 individuals.”
The White House said in a statement that “the additional forces that would go to Baghdad will not play a combat role,” explaining that “Obama would consult this week with NATO allies about taking additional measures against ISIS in addition to the formation of an international coalition with a broad base for the implementation of a comprehensive strategy to protect our citizens and support our partners in the face of the militant group.”
The American President added, “We have an evolution in terms of forming a government and an Iraqi unit; therefore we have a strategy going effectively. We have to reach out to the Sunni tribes in areas controlled by ISIS.”