Volunteers join up to fight insurgents in Iraq

World Today

The Pentagon says two teams of U.S. troops have now arrived in Baghdad to start advising the Iraqi army. They are part of a deployment of 300, who will offer logistical and tactical support in the fight against Sunni militants.

Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers gathered at a Baghdad military recruitment centre on Wednesday hoping to join the fight against Sunni militants who have taken control of much of northern and western Iraq.

Two weeks after a series of disastrous battlefield setbacks in the north and west, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is struggling to devise an effective strategy to repel the relentless advances by militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a well-trained and mobile force thought to have some 10,000 fighters inside Iraq.

At the recruitment centre in Baghdad on Wednesday, young men lined up to have their documents checked before having medical tests.

The militants have vowed to march to Baghdad and the holy Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala, a threat that prompted the nation’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to issue an urgent call to arms that has resonated with young Shiite men. CCTV’s Tony Cheng has more from Erbil.

Volunteers join up to fight insurgents in Iraq

The Pentagon says two teams of U.S. troops have now arrived in Baghdad to start advising the Iraqi army. They are part of a deployment of 300, who will offer logistical and tactical support in the fight against Sunni militants. CCTV's Tony Cheng has more from Erbil.

CCTV’s Mike Walter sits down with Mark Perry, a military analyst and the author of eight books on the military, intelligence and foreign affairs analysis, to talk about the current crisis in Iraq.

Mark Perry talks about crisis in Iraq

CCTV's Mike Walter sits down with Mark Perry, a military analyst and the author of eight books on the military, intelligence and foreign affairs analysis,to talk about the current crisis in Iraq.