MOSCOW, November 16 (Sputnik) — The United States may have to consider recommendations to deploy ground forces in Iraq to help local troops identify targets, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.
"If we get to any other variation of recommendations from General Dempsey [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff], we will deal with it, but we are not there yet," Hagel told CNN during the seminar on national security strategy Sunday.
According to Hagel, these would not be combat troops in Iraq and Syria, but they would help local armed forces locate targets, meaning the Islamic State (IS) positions.
At the G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia, US President Barack Obama said that when it comes to Iraq, he does not plan to deploy ground forces, but there are always options that could make the United States place ground troops.
Since August the US-led coalition of around 60 states has been carrying out airstrikes on the positions if IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State and the Levant (ISIL). IS is the extremist group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June, IS expanded their attacks to northern and western Iraq and declared Islamic caliphate on their territories.
