MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) – The United States is considering the possibility of sending additional troops to Iraq to step up security in American offices, located in the country, Agence France-Presse reported.
“We are considering sending fewer than 300,” a senior US official told the agency Wednesday, adding that the request was initiated by the State Department.
An official decision on the issue has not been made yet, the source stressed.
Since early August the United States has been launching targeted airstrikes against the Islamic State, aimed at protecting US personnel in the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region Erbil, as well as preventing the «genocide» of Iraqi religious minorities, who were forced to flee for their lives.
As part of the campaign, the United States has also sent a team of several hundred military advisers to Iraq in an effort to halt the advance of the IS militants.
Following days of the US military campaign, the Islamic State retaliated Tuesday by releasing a video showing the alleged execution of US journalist James Foley taken captive in Syria in 2012. Militants involved in the beheading, also threatened to do the same to another correspondent, Steven Sotloff if airstrikes in Iraq continued.
Earlier on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama pledged to continue fighting against the Islamic State even despite its threats.
Following Foley’s execution, the US military launched another 14 airstrikes in northern Iraq on Wednesday.
The US Central Command said that the attacks carried out by a mix of fighter jets, drones and attack aircraft damaged or destroyed six IS Humvees, three roadside bomb emplacements, one mortar tube and two armed trucks.
A total of 84 airstrikes have been launched by the United States against IS positions in Iraq since August 8.
