Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has said the Pentagon will ask Congress for more funds to continue U.S. strike operations to defeat the Islamic State militants, Defense News reported Friday.
âWe’re working now with the appropriate [congressional] committees on how we go forward with the funding.â Hagel told reporters Friday.
Paul McCleary writes Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and committee member Tim Kaine (D-Va.) have signaled support for Pentagon war funding boost.
A Pentagon official expects the number of U.S. armed forces in Iraq to increase from 1,168 to almost 1,600 warfighters in the coming weeks.
The U.S. and Middle Eastern allies have launched around 40 airstrikes at Islamic State targets in Syria, while a U.S.-France coalition has performed more than 200 airstrikes against the militants in Iraq, according to McCleary’s article.
âOne of the things youâre seeing in this air campaign is the fruition of two decades of interoperability and procurement activities, training activity and education activities with our allies in the region,â said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, according to Defense News.