Washington: About 400 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division based in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, will deploy to Iraq as part of the military’s effort to set up a logistics base at an airfield south of Mosul.
The soldiers are part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team and are among the 560 additional troops that President Barack Obama approved for the Iraq mission last month.
The troops are establishing a logistics hub at Qayara air base, to help Iraqi forces prepare to retake the northern city of Mosul from Daesh militants. Daesh seized the city in 2014.
The US troop authorisation for Iraq is 4,647.
The Pentagon says there are about 3,800 US forces there, not including hundreds who are on temporary duty and not included in the official count.
Last week, a US military official said Daesh’s grip on Mosul was weakening.
Iraqi and Kurdish forces, backed by US-led coalition trainers and air power, have for months been edging toward Mosul, Iraq’s second city and home to two million people. Daesh has controlled it since June 2014.
“We see them weakening inside Mosul,” said Colonel Chris Garver, a coalition spokesman. “We do see some indications that morale is lower.”
For instance, senior commanders are executing subordinates for “failure on the battlefield,” Garver said, adding that Daesh leaders are “not happy with where they are in Mosul.”
Daesh militants, concerned that city residents are communicating with Iraqi security forces, have started cutting off internet access.
The same thing happened in Fallujah and Ramadi before each of those cities was recaptured, Garver said.
Still, he cautioned, the eventual fight for Mosul - which is expected to begin in the coming months - will not be easy.
“We still anticipate that somewhere between 5,000 or so fighters are inside Mosul,” Garver said. “We’re still anticipating a tough fight.”
