The US defense secretary Ash Carter said the U.S. military will deploy a specialised expeditionary targeting force to Iraq to launch unilateral raids and “put even more pressure” on ISIS.
U.S. special operation forces will conduct operations in Iraq “at the invitation of the Iraqi government” and be in position “to conduct unilateral operations into Syria,” Carter said.
“We’re at war. We’re using the might of the finest fighting force the world has ever known,” Carter told the House Armed Services Committee.
The officials stressed the operations would not involve “large numbers of forces” and be limited to smaller special operations expeditionary units.
The special ops missions would be along the lines of the October raid in northern Iraqi where they helped Kurdish fighters free 70 prisoners being held by ISIS, senior defense officials said in an interview.
