The United States has announced that it will send the country's special forces to Iraq on a mission to conduct raids on Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and neighboring regions of Syria.
The announcement was given by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday, NBC News reported. According to Carter, the deployment of special operations forces was being conducted in coordination with the Iraqi government.
"These special operators will, over time, be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders," the Defense Secretary told the Congress' Armed Services Committee.
Other than the abovementioned goals, the American military forces will also help Kurdish and Iraqi forces in their mission to take down ISIS targets.
Officials of the Department of Defense told NBC that there will be about 100 to 150 units staying in Irbil, Iraq permanently who will be doing ground raids against their targets in Iraq and Syria. Carter did not provide a time frame on when the military will arrive in Iraq.
According to CNN International, officials say that the forces who will be sent on a raid mission are those from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. For months, the group has been gathering intelligence on ISIS operatives and used drones to launch attacks.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has already been briefed about the United States' plans of sending troops, which has already been approved last week by the White House, according to CNN.
Both U.S. and Iraqi governments will be closely monitoring the mission, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said last Wednesday, according to Reuters.
"We will continue to work very, very closely with our Iraqi partners on exactly who would be deployed, where they would be deployed, what kinds of missions people would undertake, how they would support Iraqi efforts to degrade and destroy ISIL," Kerry said.
