World News | Sat Dec 24, 2016 | 6:08am EST
U.S. forces embedding more to help Iraqis retake Mosul: commander
U.S. army forces participate in combat training in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, December 22, 2016. Picture taken December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
By Stephen Kalin | MAKHMOUR, Iraq
U.S. forces assisting Iraqi troops to retake Mosul from Islamic State are embedding more extensively, a senior commander said on Friday, a move that could accelerate a two month-old campaign which has slackened after quick initial advances.
More than 5,000 American service members are currently deployed in Iraq as part of an international coalition that is advising local forces in a bid to recapture the third of the country the jihadists seized in 2014 when Iraq's army and police dropped their weapons and fled.
Coalition advisors were initially concentrated at a high-level headquarters in Baghdad but have fanned out over the past two years to multiple locations
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUSKBN14C1RW
