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U.S. Marines deploy to northern Iraq to protect Iraqi military base

FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016 file photo, American and Spanish trainers use live ammunition in training exercises at Basmaya base, 40 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi officials cast Ramadi as proof that coalition training efforts have paid off and the Iraqi military has improved since its catastrophic collapse in the summer of 2014. But analysts and former US trainers say the fight that wrested the city from the Islamic State group highlights the military’s lingering shortcomings and isn’t a model for trying to retake the bigger prize, the IS-held city of Mosul. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016 file photo, American and Spanish trainers use live ammunition in training exercises at Basmaya base, 40 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi officials cast Ramadi as proof that coalition training efforts have paid off and the Iraqi military has improved since its catastrophic collapse in the summer of 2014. But analysts and former US trainers say the fight that wrested the city from the Islamic State group highlights the military’s lingering shortcomings and isn’t a model for trying to retake the bigger prize, the IS-held city of Mosul. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File) FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016 file photo, American and Spanish trainers use live ammunition in training exercises at Basmaya base, 40 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi officials cast Ramadi as proof that coalition training efforts have paid off and the Iraqi military has improved since its catastrophic collapse in the summer of 2014. But analysts and former US trainers say the fight that wrested the city from the Islamic State group highlights the military’s lingering shortcomings and isn’t a model for trying to retake the bigger prize, the IS-held city of Mosul. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)

By Associated Press 4 min read

WASHINGTON – The U.S. has set up a small Marine artillery outpost in northern Iraq to protect a nearby Iraqi military base, expanding the number and the combat exposure of American troops in the country as Iraqi security forces plan and prepare for a counteroffensive against the Islamic State in Mosul.

It is the first such base established by the U.S. since it returned forces to Iraq in 2014 in response to the Islamic State’s takeover of Mosul and other areas of northern and western Iraq, Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad, told reporters at the Pentagon Monday. He said it should not be considered a combat outpost because it is located behind the front lines and is not initiating combat with the militants.

“Their primary mission is to protect, obviously, Americans,” Warren said, referring to the U.S. advisers at an Iraqi base near Makhmour. He declined to reveal the number of U.S. advisers but said it is fewer than 100. He said the Marine outpost, dubbed Fire Base Bell, is “several hundred meters” from the Iraqi base.

It did not take Islamic State fighters long to notice the additional Marines. On Saturday, they fired two rockets at the site, killing one Marine.

The addition of an artillery unit of close to 200 Marines reflects thorny decisions ahead for the Obama administration, which is intent on avoiding the appearance of an expanding U.S. combat mission in Iraq more than four years after President Barack Obama pulled U.S. troops out of the country. That political reluctance is further fueled by pockets of vocal opposition in Iraq to any increase in the number of American forces there.