The 1,500 U.S. soldiers who will be deployed to Iraq to fight the Islamic State group will not be engaged in direct fighting, President Barack Obama explained during his appearance on CBS’ Meet the Press Sunday.
Rather, they’ll be there to assist Iraqi soldiers with training and other logistical needs, an Al-Jazeera report explains.
“But what we will not be doing is having our troops do the fighting,” Obama said.
Obama is confident that Iraqi military forces are ready to start going on the offense and taking on the primary military role of squashing the Islamic State group’s advances.
American soldiers “will work at four training centers with members of the U.S.-led coalition to train Iraqi soldiers and assist them with the strategy and logistics to fight [the Islamic State group] on the ground,” the Al-Jazeera report explained.
U.S. forces will also provide air support.
Read more at Al-Jazeera.