IS attack kills 3 Iraqi fighters, wounds 4 Turkish trainers

As a result of climate issues have been proscribing some air journey round Baghdad, it was unsure which Iraqi leaders Carter would be capable of see.

US Defence Minister Carton visits Iraq unannounced, Talking to journalists he said “US and his alliance wishes Iraq to play more active role against ISIS”.

Carter said the United States would continue to provide as much assistance as needed to fight back ISIS while reaffirming it would be done within the framework of Iraqi sovereignty.

A senior USA official said the US has been making preparations and will be ready at any moment to dispatch the Apaches when requested.

The jets flew training missions with Turkey’s air force and Davis noted that Turkey and the United States also reached an agreement during the deployment outlining procedures for carrying out combat air patrols in the future.

“Everything we do…here is subject to the approval of the sovereign Iraqi government”, Carter said.

But lawmakers say Baghdad – which is dominated by Shia and heavily influenced by Iran – is not distributing the USA military aid set aside for the peshmerga, in an attempt to keep non-Shia factions in Iraq weak.

Germany would keep supporting the Kurdish peshmerga in northern Iraq, which she described as “the most effective ground troops” fighting IS.

Speaking to reporters after meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and others, Carter said that as military conditions change, the U.S. is prepared to increase its contributions to the fight. “We were expecting that they [Daesh] would conduct such an attack”, he said. This week, in a call with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Vice President Biden urged that the troops be withdrawn.

The US State Department had said earlier that the conflict was a just a “dispute between Turkey and Iraq” over “a small number of troops”. Powerful Iranian-backed Shiite militia groups who are aligned with the Shiite Abadi’s government against ISIL also oppose a greater USA presence. “But for sure we are going to need that continuous support from the coalition”, Obeidi said.

“This was a mission to explore that possibility and get to know these people”, Carter said.

Capture of the sprawling western Ramadi district of al-Taamim and the Anbar Operations Command headquarters could advance government efforts to fully retake Ramadi, which fell to Islamic State in May. USA and other coalition warplanes also launched five airstrikes against militant positions in Ramadi and its outskirts Tuesday.