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On Wednesday, the United States of America vowed to increase aid to Iraq, after scrambling to respond to a Jihadist offensive that has already captured two Iraqi cities and is heading towards Baghdad.
Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for the State Department, said that the United States is committed to “working with the Iraqi government and leaders across Iraq to support a unified approach against ISIL’s continued aggression”.
“We stand ready to provide any appropriate assistance,” she added, condemning Wednesday’s kidnapping of 48 people from the Turkish consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). “You can expect we will increase our assistance” she said, stressing that Washington has already sent arms shipments to Iraq earlier this year and has ramped up training of security forces in Iraq. “The situation is certainly very grave on the ground”, she added.
Stuart Jones, who most consider to be the frontrunner to be the United States’ next ambassador to Baghdad, said that two days of the highly coordinated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant offensive “highlights just how dangerous this group is”.
US officials have warned that the group, an offshoot of the al-Qaeda, poses a major threat to all Middle Eastern nations, and that its activities are being sustained by personnel and arms coming out of the Syrian conflict.
Washington has already provided millions of dollars in military aid to Iraq after withdrawing its troops from the country. In January, it sold Baghdad 24 Apache helicopters, two F-16 fighter aircraft and 300 anti-tank Hellfire missiles, a spokesman for the Pentagon said. Some of the arms have been delivered, while the rest will reach Iraq by fall, he added. The Congress has been notified of another $1 billion in military aid, including provisions for 24 AT-6C Texan II aircraft and 200 Humvees; it could take months for lawmakers to approve the bill.