US President Barack Obama is preparing to approve the deployment of more US troops to Iraq to train local forces fighting the Islamic State (IS).
Obama is considering the deployment of 500 more soldiers, as well as the opening of a new training base in Anbar province, unnamed US officials said, according to agencies.
The US president said this week that the United States does not have a "complete strategy" in the fight against the IS armed group.
In May, the extremists captured Ramadi, the capital of the largest Iraqi province of Anbar, as well as the Syrian city of Tadmur and Palmyra, which is on the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage.
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