The US military’s top officer landed in Baghdad on Monday as Iraqi forces battle the ISIL group in their largest operation to date against the Takfiris.

The US military's top officer landed in Baghdad on Monday as Iraqi forces battle the ISIL group in their largest operation to date against the Takfiris.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, flew in on a C-17 military transport aircraft. He was due to hold talks with top Iraqi officials.

During a visit to the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the Gulf on Sunday, Dempsey appealed for "strategic patience" in the fight against ISIL.

The top officer, whose country has been leading the anti-ISIL international coalition in Iraq since August last year, also said that intensifying air strikes was not an option.

"Carpet bombing through Iraq is not the answer," Dempsey said aboard the Charles de Gaulle. France became the second Western nation to carry out strikes in Iraq last year.

He also said he saw no need to deploy more military advisers than the 2,600 already on the ground in Iraq.

The Iraqi army and the popular mobilization forces have been engaged in a military operation against the Takfiri group ISIL in Salahuddin province since last week. They managed to regain dozens of towns in the province.