The U.S. special operation forces headed to Iraq won't be sitting on the sidelines in the fight against ISIS — they'll be in combat, a top military official said Wednesday.
"A raid is a combat operation, there's no way around that," said Colonel Steve Warren, the Baghdad-based spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.
Warren said the new force will add about 100 "highly skilled commandos" to the roughly 3,500 already in Iraq, thus "raising the force cap."
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The missions will be "exceptionally well-planned" and "very well-targeted," Warren said.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the deployment on Tuesday during a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee.