The Guardian reports that “US troops have started training Iraqi military forces at two bases in Iraq as they work to build a force that can take the offensive against Islamic State (Isis) militants who overran part of the country last year, the Pentagon said on Monday.”  

“About 320 US marines are training members of the Iraqi 7th Division at Ain al-Asad air base in western al-Anbar province, which is taking regular harassing mortar fire from Islamic State militants, said Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. The training began on 20 December.”  

“Another 170 US troops, soldiers of the army’s 1st Infantry Division, began a six-week training course for four battalions of Iraqi security forces on 27 December in Taji, a predominantly Sunni rural area north of Baghdad, Warren said.”