Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced another 130 U.S. personnel have been sent to Iraq.
Hagel said President Obama authorized the deployment of the "new assessment-team members," who arrived in Irbil, northern Iraq, today. The area has been under threat from extremists who support the Islamic State.
The secretary made the announcement while speaking to Marines at Camp Pendleton in California.
The extra personnel were sent to "take a closer look and give a more in-depth assessment of where we can continue to help the Iraqis with what they're doing and the threats that they are now dealing with," Hagel said.
He said the move was in line with the criteria already established by President Obama and that it "is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation."
The Associated Press notes that the 130 advisers add to other military personnel already in Iraq:
"The 130 are in addition to 90 U.S. military advisers already in Baghdad and 160 in a pair of operations centers — one in Irbil and one in Baghdad — working with Iraqi security forces. They are in addition to about 455 U.S. security forces and 100 military personnel working in the Office of Security Cooperation in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad."
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