President Obama is sending an additional 350 U.S. troops to Iraq, fulfilling a State Department request for increased security at America's embassy in Baghdad, the White House said Tuesday. The new U.S. forces will guard the embassy and not deploy in a combat role, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
There will now be about 820 U.S. troops in Iraq guarding the sizable U.S. Embassy compound, the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, and the Baghdad airport. Obama has also authorized 300 troops to advise Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militia, and to help direct U.S. airstrikes on ISIS targets.
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