Advance Team of US Troops Arrives in Anbar

A team of 50 U.S. troops has deployed in Iraq's volatile western Anbar province for the first time in the fight against Islamic State jihadists.

U.S. officials Monday said the team is visiting the al-Asad Air Base to survey the facility for potential use for a larger advise-and-assist operation.

The al-Asad base supplies tribal fighters and Iraqi forces holding on to the Haditha Dam, a critical piece of Iraq's infrastructure.

This U.S. move comes after President Barack Obama announced plans last week to double the number of troops in Iraq, approving an additional 1,500 forces that will include trainers and advisers for Anbar.

A string of battlefield defeats for Iraqi forces has led to warnings that Anbar, which stretches from borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approach to Baghdad, could fall entirely.
[voanews.com]
10/11/14
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Related:

• Iraqi troops withdraw from army base near ISIS-seized town. (160 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad) 

• 180,000 flee IS advance in Anbar, UN says...

• US to send 1,500 additional troops to Iraq. (The move follows a recommendation made by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel)

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Related:

• Islamic State posing threat to Baghdad, says Dempsey. (U.S. had to call in Apache helicopters to prevent militants from overrunning Iraqi forces ... )

• Iraq denies presence of IS militants near Baghdad airport. The reports also said that militants are armed shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles (MANPADS)