US Military Advisers Arrive in Baghdad

Kurdish soldiers walk at a refugee camp near the city of Mosul, northern Iraq, 18 June 2014. Photo by EPA/BGNES

US military advisers have begun arriving in Baghdad to help the Iraqi army in fighting against the Sunni insurgency.

A total of 300 US military advisers and troops are expected to be stationed in Baghdad. Initially they will not be involved directly in the fighting, but will carry out surveillance and plan the combat operations, Al-Jazeera reports.

A further 250-300 troops have already been deployed to provide security for the US embassy in Baghdad.

The jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has been advancing southward and capturing key cities in the past weeks, including Mosul, the second largest in the country. United Nations estimates revealed that over 1,000 people, including many civilians had been killed this month alone.

There is no set deadline for the US mission, which is considered to be a “short-term” one.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq, to try and push through a political solution. Kerry called for a new, ethnically inclusive government to be formed in Iraq. Meanwhile, the Kurds see the current situation as an opportunity to push for independent statehood.

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