The U.S. fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) will be built around establishing a series of U.S.-manned "lily pad" operations to help Iraqi Security Forces push back the militants and eventually retake Mosul, according to Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.
Dempsey says the "lily pads … allow us to encourage the Iraqi security forces forward,"
Military.com reports.
"As they go forward, they may exceed the reach of the particular lily pad," he added. "We're looking all the time to see if additional sites might be necessary."
The remarks – made in Naples as Dempsey continued a trip that also took him to Israel –– came a day after the Pentagon announced 450 more U.S. troops would be going to Iraq.
They'll be stationed at Iraq's Taqaddum military base in eastern Anbar, which sits between the ISIS strongholds of Ramadi and Fallujah, Military.com reports.
Taqaddum would be the first of the "lily pads," Dempsey said, Military.com reports.
The added troops to the area, he added, were "an adjustment that is significant, in that it gives us access to another Iraqi division and extends their reach into al Anbar province and gives us access to more tribes."
"This campaign is building partners who are taking responsibility for their own security enabled by us -- not us driving the Iraqi government at a pace they can't sustain," Dempsey said.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren told
the Washington Times the military is looking at "lily-padding" throughout Iraq.
"We are actively considering where we can potentially establish other lily pads," he said.
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