WORLD_ Islamic State: US to send new troops to Iraq, Syria invites international cooperation to fight militants

ABC NEWS

Islamic State: US to send new troops to Iraq, Syria invites international cooperation to fight militants
Updated 48 minutes ago

Some of the 1,500 new US troops authorised to advise and train Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State militants will deploy to the country in the next few weeks without waiting for Congress to fund the mission, the Pentagon says.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said leading elements of the US force would begin moving to Iraq in the coming weeks, even if Congress had not yet acted on a $US5.6 billion supplemental request to fund the expanded fight against the militants who overran north-western Iraq earlier this year.

Officials initially indicated they needed lawmakers to approve the funding before the Pentagon could start the mission, but General Lloyd Austin, head of US troops in the Middle East, recommended starting the effort using resources already available to him.

"The commander... can reallocate resources inside his theatre as he deems fit," Rear Admiral Kirby said.

"So he is going to... try to get a jump start on this program."

He said congressional approval of the $US5.6 billion was still needed to carry out the "more robust program".

Rear Admiral Kirby's comments came just days after US officials said some 50 special operations troops had been sent to Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar province in Iraq to establish an operation to advise and train Iraqi troops.

US president Barack Obama's administration announced on November 7 plans to roughly double the number of US troops in Iraq, adding an additional 1,500 to establish sites to train nine Iraqi military brigades and three Kurdish peshmerga brigades.

Rear Admiral Kirby said General Austin thought starting the expanded mission sent a message both to Iraqis and other coalition partners.

"It sends an important signal... about how seriously we're taking this," he said.

"The sooner we get started, the sooner Iraqi units will improve... and the sooner we'll get coalition contributions to that particular mission."

Rear Admiral Kirby indicated additional US troops would begin deploying to Iraq before the end of the year.

"You're going to start to see initial elements of the 1,500 or so additional start to flow in the next few weeks," he said.

"I think certainly by the end of the calendar year you're going to see a much more robust presence, not just by the United States doing this but by coalition partners as well."

Syrian president invites international cooperation, US declines

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has said "international cooperation" was necessary to crush IS.

"The region is going through decisive times" and the most important factor in determining the outcome was whether there was "real and sincere international cooperation" against the jihadists, Mr Assad said.

"Terrorist groups, led by IS, did not emerge from nothing but are the fruit of the mistaken and aggressive police of those who have waged war on Syria," state news agency Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted him as saying.

Mr Assad was speaking to members of his ruling Baath party, just days after US president Barack Obama rejected any alliance with the Syrian president against the jihadists.

Mr Obama, who leads an international coalition against IS, which controls swathes of Syria and Iraq, said in Australia on Sunday that Mr Assad, who is facing a nearly four-year armed uprising had "lost legitimacy with the majority of his people".

"For us to then make common cause with him against ISIL (Islamic State) would only turn more Sunnis in Syria in the direction of supporting ISIL and would weaken our coalition," he said.

Reuters/AFP

More on this story:
* Barack Obama confirms 'evil' murder of US aid worker Peter Kassig
* US rejects alliance with Syrian president to fight IS
* Reports a British national suspected of IS beheadings has been wounded in an air strike
* Iraq forces retake strategic town of Baiji
* Australian troops 'moving into locations' in Iraq to assist with fight against Islamic State
* Islamic State: US troop increase in Iraq signals new phase in fight against militants, Obama says

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