美国将向伊拉克增派军事人员

US president Barack Obama has announced plans to increase the number of US military personnel in Iraq - a move perceived as signalling his commitment to a long-term fight against the Islamic State. However, the new initiative does not include US troops on the ground.

Inherent Resolve. That’s the name of the U.S. led, 60-member coalition initiated last August to erradicate ISIL in Iraq and Syria. At a cost of about nine million U.S. dollars per day, pointed airstrikes, aided by Iraqi intel, are conducted around the clock.

F-18 Fighter Jets like the one you just saw take off behind me are the bulk of the jets being used in the campaign from this vessel against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. According to the commanders here, there are about twenty sorties that taking off  from here on a daily basis.

But the coalition has yet to take back Iraq’s second biggest city - Mosul - seized by ISIL last year. And in May, ISIL gained more ground: taking two key cities in Iraq and Syria.

U.S. President Barack Obama has repeatedly asserted: there will be no U.S. troops on the ground in the war against ISIL. But lead navy and military commanders admit: Air power may not suffice.

Captain Benjamin Hewlett, Air Wing Commander, USS Roosevelt said:"The airstrikes can only do so much. We’re being very effective - we’re there to support. But I think in the end, it’s gonna be a ground fight. Iraqis are there on the ground and we’re there to support them but a lot of times they haven’t moved forward or they haven’t had the ability to move forward - they’ve tried - and have been unsuccessful."

The U.S. administration’s decision this week to send four hundred and fifty more military advisers to Iraq is seen as a way of shoring up Iraq’s military without entering too deeply into the conflict.

"There is a patience to seeing the larger picture over time. These tactical gains that are being made or appearing to be made by ISIS or ISIL, may not turn out to be actual gains," said Rear Admiral Andrew Lewis, Strike Group Commander, USS Roosevelt.

While the U.S. plan means more American military personnel in Iraq, it does not call for placing advisers near frontlines.