Pentagon fields special force against Islamic State

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. testify before a House Armed Services Committee hearing on “U.S. Strategy for Syria and Iraq”, in Washington, Dec. 1, 2015.

Carter said that will improve intelligence and generate more targets for attacks.

“The Iraqi government stresses that any military operation or the deployment of any foreign forces – special or not – in any place in Iraq can not happen without its approval and coordination and full respect of Iraqi sovereignty”, Abadi said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said Baghdad was fully briefed on U.S. plans to deploy U.S. special forces to Iraq. Mr Carter also said he was “prepared to expand” the role of its special operations forces in Syria, as he called on global powers to ramp up efforts to defeat ISIS. The new task force will work with Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish peshmerga.

The presence of American ground forces is a contentious issue in Iraq, where the United States fought a almost nine-year war, and it is politically expedient for Abadi to distance himself from the deployment.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said his country does not need foreign troops to fight IS militants, but welcomes support through weapons and training, the media reported on Wednesday.

He clarified that the special operation forces would be sent “at the invitation of the Iraqi government”.

The new expeditionary force will be based in northern Iraq with an initial focus on backing the Kurds and protecting Iraq’s borders with Syria.

According to Carter, the USA government is using “finest fighting force the world has ever known” to fight ISIS militants.

“Iraqi special forces, the counter-terrorism force and other heroic Iraqi combatants have played a key role in targeting the leaders of Daesh and undertaken unsafe missions in order to seize back vital and strategic areas from the terrorists of Daesh”, it said.

Some members of Congress, as well as defense officials who spoke privately to U.S. News, expressed surprise at the suddenness of the announcement and lack of any prior notice that Carter would publicly unveil it on Monday.

Carter said the new unit will constitute of a “mixed force” of troops from other nations. “Our effectiveness is inextricably linked to the quality of the intelligence that we have”, he said. “That’s the sensation that we want all of ISIL’s leadership and followers to have”.

There are also about 3,500 USA military personnel working with Iraqi troops.