Planning is reportedly underway to move U.S. troops much closer to the front lines for a looming battle with ISIS to retake Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.
Military commanders are drafting plans for American soldiers to accompany Iraqi brigades for the expected fight,
The Hill reports, citing two unnamed defense officials.
Currently, U.S. forces are working with Iraqi security forces at the division-level or above with a few exceptions, but the new plan would see small teams of about 15 troops embedded with Iraqi brigades as they move closer to Mosul and set up headquarters, The Hill reports.
"It would make a massive difference," Iraq expert Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy tells The Hill.
The headquarters for the Iraqi troops could be "pretty close to the battlefield," James Jeffrey, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and now with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy tells The Hill.
The Hill reports that the fight to retake Mosul is expected to be far more difficult than the
fight for Ramadi, noting Mosul is 10 times larger and that ISIS fighters have been dug in at Mosul since June 2014.
"Ramadi is a village compared with Mosul and so Mosul's going to be a tough nut to crack there's no doubt," retired Army Lt. Col. Peter Mansoor, who served as retired Army Gen. David Petraeus' executive officer during the Iraq surge, tells The Hill.
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