US forces have been shot at and returned fire in the battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul, a coalition official acknowledged Wednesday, as American troops edge closer to the front lines.
The United States currently has about 450 military advisers, most of them special operations forces, supporting Iraqi partners as they try to oust the Islamic State group from their bastion Mosul.
The American troops are not supposed to be doing the actual fighting but in recent weeks have gotten so close to the front that they’ve come under attack, said Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting IS.
“They have come under fire at different times, they have returned fire at different times, in and around Mosul,” he told reporters in a video briefing from Baghdad.
Dorrian declined to say if any US troops had been wounded in the attacks.
The Pentagon doesn’t typically provide such figures until later, arguing that to do so would provide the enemy with real-time information.
Dorrian said all efforts were being made to keep US forces out of the fight.
When Barack Obama authorized troops back into Iraq in 2014, he stressed that they would be going there in an advisory role.
“They are directed to try and be positioned where that is a rarity and unlikely to occur,” Dorrian said.
“Sometimes (attacks) will happen. Believe me, our forces are quite capable of defending themselves and they will do so very robustly,” Dorrian said.
Speaking in Baghdad on Monday, the coalition’s commanding officer Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend said US troops are fighting closer to the front lines under authorities first granted at the end of the Obama administration.
But the fact these powers are being used more now may suggest commanders feel they have more leeway under President Donald Trump.
“It is true that we are operating closer and deeper into the Iraqi formations,” he said.
“We adjusted our posture during the east Mosul fight and embedded advisors a bit further down into the formation.”
The battle for Mosul began October 17 and coalition-backed Iraqi troops have pushed IS from the city’s eastern side.
The ongoing battle for the west is expected to be a brutal fight and will take place in a packed urban environment.
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