The US will send an additional 560 troops to Iraq to help secure a newly retaken air-base as a staging hub for the long-awaited offensive to retake Mosul from ISIS, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said during an unannounced visit to the country July 11. Most of the new troops will be devoted to the perparing the Qayara airbase, some 64 kilometers south of Mosul. They will help Iraqi forces planning the drive on Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. The increase brings the total US force in Iraq to 4,647. Unofficially, that figure is probably closer to 6,000, as troops who deploy on temporary assignments are not included in the Pentagon's official tally. Taqqadum, a base in Anbar governorate where US troops train Iraqis., served a key role in the taking of Ramadi [5] late last year, and more recently Fallujah [6]. (Al Jazeera [7], WP [8])
Iraqi troops are now advancing on the town of Qayara two days after capturing the base. Many civilians are reported to be still in the town. Some 1,900 people, mostly former members of the security forces, who had been imprisoned by ISIS inside the air-base were reportedly liberated. (Rudaw [9])
