UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has announced that hundreds of British troops will be sent to Iraq next month to train local Kurdish and Iraqi forces to fight the Islamic State.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Fallon said the troops will be training Iraqi and Kurdish forces in skills such as improvised explosive device (IED) and bomb disposal techniques, gained from years of experience in dealing with roadside devices in Afghanistan, as well as infantry skills.

There will also be a small force protection team of combat ready troops who will be there to defend the military training teams.

The trainers will be based in four safe centers inside Iraq that have been created by the Americans; one is in Kurdish territory, while the other three are near Baghdad.

Overall, there will be 1,500 soldiers in the mission from all countries in the coalition against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

The United States and its allies have conducted 61 air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq in the past three days, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement on Wednesday.

The U.S.-led coalition also conducted six air strikes against the militant group in Syria, the statement said.

Forty-five of the strikes in Iraq were "conducted in support of the Peshmerga (KSF) and Iraqi security forces operating in the region" and destroyed 50 targets, including militant fighters and various fighting positions and equipment, the statement said.

Other strikes in Iraq hit near Mosul, Sinjar, Arbil, Rawa, Ramadi and Tal-Afar, and destroyed various targets such as fighting units, buildings, bunkers and various equipment, the task force said.

In Syria, five strikes hit near the border town of Kobani, and one near Abu Kamal, the statement said.

EstablishedGaming wrote Considering the UN funds ISIS i doubt anything will come of this.

Lavish wrote

EstablishedGaming wrote Considering the UN funds ISIS i doubt anything will come of this.

Hahahah where did you read this bullshit? Infowars?

Musket wrote

_{Obama vows no safe haven for Islamic State}

---

President Barack Obama used a holiday season visit to a U.S. military base on Monday to issue a tough warning to Islamic State militants, saying a U.S.-led coalition will permit no safe haven to the group and will destroy it eventually.

Obama spoke to hundreds of camouflage-wearing troops in a hangar at Fort Dix to thank the U.S. military for its actions around the world. In a display of bipartisan support for the troops, Obama was joined by New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie, a potential candidate to succeed Obama in 2016.

The U.S.-led coalition in Syria and Iraq has had some successes against the Islamic State group but has yet to force a major rollback from the territorial gains the extremists made in seizing large swathes of Iraq last summer.

"Make no mistake. Our coalition isn't just going to degrade this barbaric terrorist organization. We're going to destroy it," Obama said.

Obama said gains are being made. Hundreds of vehicles and tanks and more than 1,000 fighting positions have been taken out, he said.
"We are hammering these terrorists," he said.

"They may think that they can chalk up some quick victories, but our reach is long. We do not give up. You threaten America, you will have no safe haven. We will find you and like petty tyrants and terrorists before you, the world is going to leave you behind and keep moving on without you, because we will get you," Obama said.

Obama also said the United States is on track to end its combat mission in Afghanistan at years end, leaving behind a force dedicated to training Afghan security forces and carrying out counter-terrorism operations.

Obama last month approved a slight expansion in the U.S. role in the counter-terrorism operations. There are concerns in Afghanistan, however, about increasing Taliban attacks in the capital, Kabul.

Obama, who made ending the war in Afghanistan a priority, said challenges remain there.

"Afghanistan is still a dangerous place," he said.
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TTGxDustyx wrote

Lavish wrote

EstablishedGaming wrote Considering the UN funds ISIS i doubt anything will come of this.

Hahahah where did you read this bullshit? Infowars?

WTF ?
probably Fox News or some bs like that