Ukraine in Arabic | Barack Obama: Anti-ISIS campaign in new phase
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ President Barack Obama said on Sunday that the deployment of an additional 1,500 American troops to Iraq marks a “new phase” in the campaign against militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
“Phase one was getting an Iraqi government that was inclusive and credible – and we now have done that,” Obama told
"Rather than just try to halt [ISIL's] momentum, we're now in a position to start going on some offence," he added, stressing the need for Iraqi ground troops to start pushing back ISIL fighters.
"We will provide them close air support once they are prepared to start going on the offence against [ISIL]," Obama said.
"But what we will not be doing is having our troops do the fighting."
Going on the offensive will be a significant challenge for Iraq's forces, which saw multiple divisions fall apart in the early days of the ISIL June offensive, leaving major units that need to be reconstituted.
Meanwhile, ISIL said that a British national had carried out a suicide bombing that killed a senior Iraqi police officer.
The group said in a statement posted online that "Abu Sumayyah al-Britani" detonated a truck carrying eight tons of explosives on the outskirts of the northern town of Beiji, killing Major General Faisal al-Zamili.
Friday's attack came during heavy clashes as pro-government forces seek to fully retake Beiji.
Iraqi military said they have now reached the center of the northern oil city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, meanwhile said on Sunday that fighting for the border town of Kobani in neighboring Syria had now killed more than 1,000 people, mostly jihadists.
