The U.S. and Iraq have agreed on a plan that will send about 600 additional American troops to Iraq to help retake Mosul from Islamic State, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in New Mexico, Carter said the increase is part of the coalition's "accelerating campaign" to "isolate and collapse" Islamic State's control over Mosul and "expand gains by Iraqi Security Forces elsewhere in Iraq."
A U.S. defense official put the total number at 615, bringing the number of American troops authorized to fight IS in Iraq at 5,262.
Carter said the additional U.S. military personnel will train, advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga. They also will be used to improve logistics and to intensify intelligence operations with a “special emphasis” on uncovering IS plans to launch terror attacks against Baghdad and the West.
Carter also echoed other top U.S. defense officials who have suggested the battle to retake Mosul could get under way in a matter of weeks.