US fight against ISIL to turn: Dempsey

The United States’ top military officer says the US-led coalition’s battle against the ISIL terrorists is “starting to turn” and may continue for “several years.”

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the comments among American troops during a surprise visit to the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Saturday.

This was the first time Dempsey visited the crisis-hit country after US president Barack Obama ordered troops back into a country they had left in 2011.

Among a group of Marines at the US embassy in Baghdad, Dempsey claimed that the US was behind pulling Iraq “back from the precipice.”

“And now, I think it’s starting to turn. So well done,” he said, adding, the US mission could take “several years.”

He called the ISIL Takfiris “a bunch of midgets running around with a really radical ideology.”

Dempsey also held meetings with top Iraqi officials during the unannounced visit.

Last week, Obama authorized dispatching up to 1,500 forces to Iraq, which would approximately double the planned US troop presence.

US warplanes have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq with some other Western states participating in some of the airstrikes in the country.

The Iraqi army has so far managed to make numerous gains in the fight against the ISIL militants.