Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey has revealed that the United States had to call in Apache helicopters to protect Baghdad's airport against the Islamic State, The Washington Post reported.
"They were within 20 or 25 kilometers [of Baghdad airport] and had they overrun the Iraqi unit, it was a straight shot to the airport. So we're not going to allow that to happen; we need that airport," he said during an interview on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
Dempsey said that "the risk of operating in a hostile environment is there, constantly," and the Apache was the "tool that was immediately available." He described the fight against the Islamic State as a "very challenging task" until the Iraqi government is able to reach out to 20 million Sunnis in Iraq and Syria.
As to the next stage of the battle, Dempsey said he believed the international coalition fighting the Islamic State could do more in Syria. He denied that there were any immediate plans to set up a no-fly zone in Syria but said there could be "circumstances in the future where that would be part of the campaign."
On the question of putting U.S. troops on the ground, Dempsey again said there were no immediate plans but it is likely "there will be circumstances" where troops would make it easier to hit Islamic State targets.
"Mosul will likely be the decisive battle in the ground campaign at some point in the future," he said.
"My instinct at this point is that will require a different kind of advising and assisting because of the complexity of that fight."