The Los Angeles Times reports that “U.S. troops will advise the Iraqi army and provide Apache attack helicopters to help retake the strategic city of Ramadi from Islamic State militants if the Iraqi government requests it, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told Congress on Wednesday.”  

“The U.S. advisors are not expected to engage in combat but their direct role closer to the front lines of a potential major battle indicates another escalation of U.S. involvement in the conflict in Iraq and Syria.”  

“Iraqi security forces have struggled for seven months to recapture Ramadi, a provincial capital about 60 miles west of Baghdad. Militants who overran the city last spring have planted hundreds of booby traps and installed other defenses that have slowed a direct assault.”