US Defence Secretary Ash Carter speaks next to US and Philippine flags during the closing ceremony of a US-Philippine military exercise at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Metro Manila on April 15, 2016. (Reuters Photo)
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter flew into Iraq on Monday to discuss offering more help in the fight against ISIS, possibly including sending in more US troops, officials said.
Carter would meet Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defence Minister Khaled al-Obaidi and discuss ways to build on recent gains against the militant group, which also controls large parts of neighbouring Syria, the US officials added.
They declined to say what kind of assistance would be offered, but said it would likely include more US troops on the ground.
"Whenever we're talking about additional capabilities, it usually means some small numbers of additional troops," the US official said before the unannounced visit.
Iraq's army, trained by the US military officers and backed by air strikes from a US-led coalition, last week retook the Hit region, pushing it further north along the Euphrates valley.
The Iraqi government has designated Mosul, the largest Iraqi city still under ISIS control, as its next major target. It retook the western city of Ramadi in December.
"The fight of Iraq is the fight for Mosul. Mosul is the end game in Iraq," a senior US defence official said, on condition of anonymity. "It's a very large urban scenario ... We are going to need to be more aggressive, the Iraqis are asking us to be more aggressive."
© Thomson Reuters 2016