The soldiers landed at the heavily-guarded Ayn al-Asad airbase, located five kilometers southwest of the embattled city of Khan al-Baghdadi, on Wednesday and are tasked with carrying out certain tasks during their presence at the military site, Arabic-language al-Mada newspaper reported.
The report said US soldiers are to purge areas close to the Ayn al-Asad base of ISIS militants, destroy the militants’ positions nearby, and repel ISIS attacks against the airbase.
The deployment comes as on Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Washington was ready to assist the Iraqi army with more equipment and personnel to help fight against ISIS.
“The United States is prepared to assist the Iraqi army with additional unique capabilities to help them finish the job, including attack helicopters and accompanying advisers,” he said.
The deployment also came even as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on December 1 that his country rejected the need for deployment of any foreign forces on its soil to battle the Takfiri ISIS terrorist group.
“We do not need foreign ground combat forces on Iraqi land,” Abadi said.
The Iraqi government “stresses that any military operation or the deployment of any foreign forces – special or not – in any place in Iraq cannot happen without its approval and coordination and full respect of Iraqi sovereignty,” he pointed out.
Author
