US to target ISIS with 'expeditionary force' in Iraq, Syria

The US has announced the launch of a new 'expeditionary force' to target the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) militants in Iraq and Syria where local troops will operate independently in both countries.

The Guardian reports that US defense secretary Ash Carter revealed that the troops would be based in Iraq but will have the capability to carry out raids across the border.

"It puts everybody on notice in Syria. You don't know at night who is going to be coming in the window," Carter said.

US President Barack Obama had recently authorised 50 Special Force troops to be deployed to Syria, assuring that they will work mainly alongside rebels on that side of the border.

Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Joseph Dunford said that he was encouraging US military forces in Iraq to go beyond the President's current force limit of 3,500 troops in the country.

"I do not believe we are limited by the number 3,500. We are managing 3,500 because that's the number of troops that the president has approved to date, but I can assure you that I don't feel at all inhibited in making recommendations that would cause us to grow greater than 3,500. I told [the Baghdad-based] general MacFarland as recently as 10 days ago to not be inhibited at all in identifying capabilities he needs regardless of the force management figure," Dunford said.

Earlier in Paris, Obama had hinted at the limits of existing allied air operations in Iraq

"[The] pace of air strikes is not constrained by the amount of planes and missiles that we have; the pace has been constrained by how many effective targets we have," Obama told reporters at the climate change conference in Paris.