More US troops to assail ISIS

British Special Forces have already formed a series of “hunter-killer” teams with USA counterparts, including Delta Force and Seal Team 6.

“The Iraqi government welcomes an increase in support in weapons and training and (air) support from worldwide partners in our war against Daesh [IS]”, Abadi said in a statement.

Jones, who has previously stated pride that her husband was “killed by the biggest enemy of Allah” and said she would never love anyone but him, is also said to have been placed on United Kingdom and U.S. special forces ‘kill lists’.

While there are obvious reasons for Iraqis to be wary of more USA troops on the ground in Iraq, the Washington Post notes that American forces are also battling persistent rumors in Iraq that the U.S.is secretly working with ISIS to exert more control over the nation.

Carter, testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, faced skeptical lawmakers who argued that the US needs to be more forceful in countering ISIS, which claims responsibility for recent suicide bombings in Paris and Beirut and the downing of a Russian airliner.

“When they go to bed at night, who is going to be coming in the window?”

Carter told the House Armed Services Committee that over time, the special operations force will be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture IS leaders. Carter said that would improve intelligence and generate more targets for attacks.

The force could consist of up to 200 troops, a defense official said, and would augment a 50-man special operations force deployed earlier this year.

The use of what is now being called an ETF [expeditionary targeting force] is not without precedence in the US effort against IS.

“This force will also be in a position to conduct unilateral operations in Syria”.

But at the time they said they believed it would be unlikely any foreign jihadi brides, like Jones, would be asked to join up.

A Gallup survey said that 47 percent of Americans favored sending more ground troops to Iraq and Syria and 46 percent were opposed.

Still, U.S. officials caution the move to insert more special operators is not an indication that Islamic State is at any sort of tipping point, ready to fall. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy expressed concern about a possible mission creep, saying the “slow buildup of USA combat soldiers inside Syria and Iraq risks repeating the mistake of the Iraq War – believing that extremism can be defeated by US troops absent local political and military capacity”.

“The SAS will use the same strategy in Syria that it used in Afghanistan, when they effectively destroyed the Taliban’s middle order”, said one senior military source.

That pledge, he said, does not appear to apply to US special operations forces.

FILE – Kurdish troops known as peshmerga deploy during a military operation to regain control of some villages from Islamic State group fighters south of oil-rich city of Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 26, 2015.

Carter said the number in the new expeditionary force will be “larger” than 50.

Yemeni prisoner at the US base at Guantanamo Bay appears to have been the victim of mistaken identity, suspected of being a significant member of al-Qaida and not just a low-level Islamic fighter, officials said in documents released.