Pentagon shifts equipment from Iraq to Syria

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Pentagon is reversing a decision to send mine-clearing equipment and armored carriers to Iraq, saying they are no longer needed for the fight against the Islamic State (IS).

In a June 22 letter to Congress seen by Al-Monitor, Deputy US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan writes that more than two dozen armored carriers and equipment to clear mined roads are “no longer required to support the Iraqi Security Forces.” Instead, they will be converted to Pentagon stocks to be used in Syria.

Shanahan’s letter doesn’t make clear what prompted the Pentagon’s decision to shift the equipment out of Iraq. The vehicles, which according to US Army doctrine can support a brigade of up to 3,500 troops, had not yet been transferred to Iraqi soldiers in the field.