Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel described the ISIS army in Iraq as a threat unlike any the world has ever seen, as he announced that 130 military advisers would travel to northern Iraq.
“The Iraqi people, the government of Iraq, country of Iraq is now under threat from some of the most brutal, barbaric forces we’ve ever seen in the world today, and a force, ISIL [ISIS], and others that is an ideology that’s connected to an army and it’s a force and a dimension that the world has never seen before like we have seen it now,” Hagel told United States Marines in San Diego, Calif.
“I recommended to the president, and the president has authorized me to go ahead and send about 130 new assessment team members up to northern Iraq in the Erbil area to take a closer look and give a more in-depth assessment of where we can continue to help the Iraqis with what they’re doing and the threats that they are now dealing with,” Hagel said.
Erbil is a Kurdish city that has been under a siege that “has been relieved somewhat by 19 U.S. air strikes on ISIS over four days,” as CBS reported.