(VOVworld) – US President Barack Obama has said the deployment of 1,500 more US troops to Iraq marks a “new phase” against Islamic State militants.

The US troops will be deployed to Iraq to advise and retrain the Iraqi military (Photo: AFP)

The troops will be deployed to Iraq to advise and retrain the Iraqi military. A US-led coalition has been helping Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces in hundreds of air strikes since August. Together with the deployment of more troops, President Obama’s administration also asked the Congress for more than 5 billion USD to fund the fight. At present there are 1,400 American troops in Iraq, including 600 advisers in Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region. The other 800 troops are involved in providing security for the US embassy and the Baghdad airport.