The US has set up a small Marine artillery outpost in northern Iraq to protect a nearby Iraqi military base where US advisers are helping Iraqi combat troops plan and prepare for a counteroffensive in Mosul, a US spokesman said today.
"It is a fire base," Col Steve Warren, spokesman for the US military headquarters in Baghdad, told reporters at the Pentagon.
It is the first such base established by the US since it returned forces to Iraq in 2014 in response to the Islamic State's takeover of Mosul and other areas of northern and western Iraq, Warren said. He said it should not be considered a combat outpost because it is located behind the front lines and is not initiating combat with the Islamic State.
"Their primary mission is to protect, obviously, Americans," Warren said, referring to the US advisers in that area. He declined to say how many US advisers are working with the Iraqis there but said it is fewer than 100.
On Monday, a small number of Islamic State fighters got close enough to the Marines' outpost, dubbed Fire Base Bell, to target them with small arms, Warren said. He said no US personnel were wounded in that attack; two IS fighters were killed.
He said the Marines' mission is defensive and is considered part of the advise-and-assist mission the US military is undertaking on an Iraqi military base located near Makhmour, between the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk.
The Iraqis are preparing ground combat forces for an eventual mission to recapture Mosul. Warren said the Marines, who are members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, began arriving at the fire base about two weeks ago.
