'Boots in the air': US combat troops engage ISIS rebels as Canada deploys soldiers to Iraq

By RYAN GORMAN

The U.S. military has begun fighting ISIS in Iraq despite assurances it would not, and reinforcements are on the way from Canada.

Army attack helicopters launched an assault Sunday on insurgent positions outside Baghdad, U.S. Central Command announced. An advance team of hundreds of soldiers is also making its way to Iraq, Canadian officials announced early Monday.

This strike changes the U.S. strategy in Iraq from one of using drones and fighter jets for targeted air strikes to combat troops directly engaging the militants.

Jeffrey White, a former senior Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, told McClatchy it amounts to "boots in the air," a reference to U.S. President Barack Obama previously saying there would be no "boots on the ground" in Iraq.

The assaults were launched near Abu Ghraib, a western suburb of Baghdad that had become overrun with militants, according to several reports.

"It's definitely boots in the air. This is combat, assuming U.S. Army guys were flying the helicopters," White, a defense fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a center-right policy institute, told McClatchy. "Using helicopter gunships in combat operations means those forces are in combat."

The development is an admission by the Obama administration that targeted strikes were not effective in slowing the rebels' advances toward the Iraqi capital, White added.

"It means however we were applying air power previously didn't work to stop them from putting together offensive actions. One of the hopes was that using air power would impede them from using offensive operations," he said. "But apparently, they have been successful in doing that despite the airstrikes."

It is believed the helicopters deployed were AH-64 Apache gunships. They were originally sent to Iraq to protect the U.S. Embassy and other installations, the military previously announced.

Apache choppers employ a two-man crew with missiles and a high-powered cannon. They fly low and slow over targets, which makes them riskier than drones and other high-altitude aircraft – especially after ISIS reportedly shot down a Russian helicopter given to the Iraqi military.

"It's significantly higher risk for whoever is flying the mission," said White. "It's certainly crossing another threshold. The U.S. is conducting strikes that are directly involved in combat."

News of the escalation by the Army came shortly before Canada announced plans to send an advance team of 600 soldiers to Iraq, according to the CBC.

Previous reports suggested the Canadian military would not send ground combat troops abroad. But it was also previously reported the U.S. would not engage ISIS in ground combat.

An ISIS flag hoisted Monday atop the tallest building in Kobane, on the border of Syria and Turkey, was further proof of the Islamic State's growing influence and power.

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