Top U.S. general arrives in Iraq as military campaign expands

The top U.S. military officer, General Martin Dempsey, arrived on Saturday in Baghdad on an unannounced visit to meet U.S. commanders preparing to increase American assistance to Iraqi and Kurdish forces battling Sunni Islamic State (IS) militants, Reuters reported.

It was Dempsey’s first trip to Iraq since President Barack Obama, alarmed by Islamic State advances, ordered non-combatant American forces back into the country this summer, less than three years after withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. U.S. air strikes began in August.

“I want to get a sense from our side about how our contribution is going,” Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Reuters shortly before landing in Baghdad.

“I want to hear from those actually doing the lifting that they’ve the resources they need and the proper guidance to use those resources.”

Last week, Obama authorized sending up to 1,500 more forces to Iraq, roughly doubling the planned U.S. troop presence as the United States expands its advisory mission and starts training Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

Dempsey was due to meet U.S. officials overseeing the effort, including Kuwait-based task force commander Lieutenant General James Terry, as well as Iraqi officials.

“This will work best if we’re enabling (Iraq’s) plan,” Dempsey, who last visited Iraq in 2012, said.

Dempsey’s visit comes in the wake of Iraqi battlefield advances highlighted by U.S. officials, including retaking areas around the country's biggest refinery near the city of Baiji.

Still, the Islamic State remains defiant.