U.K. to boost support to Iraq forces fighting against Islamic State

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed the plans on Wednesday of sending some military personnel back to Iraq to boost support to Kurdish forces in Iraq in their fight to halt the advance of Islamic State (IS) militant group.

U.K. is again being drawn into the Iraq conflict just three years after British troops ended combat mission there and left the country.

Within the next few weeks, army trainers will be sent to the capital Baghdad to work at a U.S. headquarters established there to help Iraqi forces in their on-going battle against IS fighters.

The last British forces were pulled out of Iraq in 2011, eight years after one of the main members of the U.S.-led “coalition of the willing” that invaded Iraq in 2003 and overthrew the dictator Saddam Hussein.

The U.K. had also launched its air strike mission against IS targets in Iraq on 30 September.

Britain’s Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon has said in an interview from Baghdad that Iraqi forces were making some progress in halting the advance of IS, but they urgently require additional aid from Britain.

IS extremists have taken control of several parts of Iraq and Syria in recent months but Mr Fallon has told that the limited mission would not lead to the deployment of combat troops in the war-torn area.

The additional support that will be deployed in several places in Iraq, will include military training personnel to instruct local forces on how to counter roadside and car bombs as well as advisory personnel to Iraqi headquarters.

After meeting Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi to assess training needs, Mr Fallon has stated: “It is right that we do more to help Iraqi forces take the fight to ISIL on the ground which is why the U.K. is offering the further training, support and assistance I have outlined today.”

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