[December 27, 2013]WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United
States has delivered dozens of Hellfire air-to-ground missiles to Iraq
in recent weeks and plans shipments of Scan Eagle drones next year amid
a surge in violence, U.S. officials said on Thursday, a day after at
least 34 people died in Christmas day bomb attacks in Baghdad.
Al Qaeda-linked militants have stepped up attacks on Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government and anyone seen to
be supporting it. The United Nations estimates that more than 8,000
people have been killed in attacks in Iraq this year.
A U.S. official said that about 75 Hellfire missiles were delivered
to Iraq last week, earlier than originally envisioned, and a
shipment of 10 unmanned Scan Eagles surveillance drones is due next
year.
The U.S. has already said the first of 18 F-16 fighter jets promised
to Iraq will be delivered in the fall of 2014, with the entire order
to be shipped over the course of two years.
"The recent delivery of Hellfire missiles and an upcoming delivery
of Scan Eagles are standard (foreign military sales) cases that we
have with Iraq to strengthen their capabilities to combat this
threat," a State Department official said.
"We remain committed to supporting the government of Iraq in meeting
its defense needs in the face of these challenges," the official
added.
Iraq is enduring its deadliest violence in years, reviving memories
of the sectarian bloodshed between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims that
killed tens of thousands of people in 2006-07.
Maliki pressed senior U.S. officials during a visit to Washington
last month to provide Iraqi forces with additional equipment to
conduct operations against militants camped in remote areas.
Washington has been adamant it will not send troops back to Iraq but
has said it will continue to help train Iraqi forces. The last U.S.
troops left Iraq at the end of 2011 after eight years of war.
