Post by warrior1972 on Oct 11, 2014 5:49:43 GMT -8
Baghdad (CNN) -- Leaders in Iraq's western Anbar province appealed Saturday for help from U.S. forces on the ground to halt the relentless advance of ISIS fighters.
The situation in the province, just to the west of Baghdad, is "very bad," the president of Anbar Provincial Council told CNN by phone on Saturday.
Sabah Al-Karhout said the council has intelligence that ISIS has dispatched as many as 10,000 fighters to Anbar from Syria and Mosul in northern Iraq.
The council's deputy head, Falleh al-Issawi, told CNN that it had asked the central government to intervene immediately to save the province from imminent collapse -- and to request the deployment of U.S. ground forces there.
That would be a significant shift, since the Iraqi government has until now been adamant that it does not want U.S. forces on the ground. President Barack Obama has also previously ruled out the use of U.S. ground troops.
The Iraqi government said it has not received any official request from Anbar province for U.S. military intervention and ground forces to help in the fight against ISIS, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's media office said Saturday.
"If we receive any request, we will look into it and we will give our recommendation, but thus far we have not received any request," the office said in a statement.
www.cnn.com/2014/10/11/world/meast/isis-threat/index.html?hpt=hp_t1