US President Barack Obama announced Monday that he is sending approximately 200 troops to Iraq to protect the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Baghdad International Airport

US President Barack Obama announced Monday that he is sending approximately 200 troops to Iraq to protect the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Baghdad International Airport.

The troops will serve a different mission in Iraq than the 275 advisory troops sent to Iraq earlier this month in response to advances by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

"In light of the security situation in Baghdad, I have ordered up to approximately 200 additional US Armed Forces personnel to Iraq to reinforce security at the US Embassy, its support facilities, and the Baghdad International Airport," Obama said in a letter to Congress released Monday.
  
"This force is deploying for the purpose of protecting US citizens and property, if necessary, and is equipped for combat."
  
The latest deployment which the Pentagon said had arrived in Iraq on Sunday brings the number of US troops and embassy security forces to 800.
  
Iraqi forces meanwhile pressed a counter-offensive Monday against executed dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, one of a string of towns and cities overrun by ISIL terrorists.
  
An army officer said troops controlled parts of the outskirts of the city, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Baghdad, which the militants captured on June 11.