US special forces to fight ISIS in Iraq, Syria

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The United States will increasingly rely on special operations troops to battle Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday, while calling on international powers to beef up their own efforts.

Speaking to lawmakers in the House Armed Services Committee, the Pentagon chief said he was deploying a “specialized expeditionary targeting force” to Iraq to work alongside local Iraqi and Kurdish peshmerga forces battling the IS group.