Washington: President Barack Obama has authorised the military to send up to 1,500 additional personnel to Iraq for training and assistance of Iraqi forces with the aim to enforce fight against the Islamic State (IS), an official statement said Friday.

Obama has authoried Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to deploy to Iraq up to 1,500 additional US personnel over the coming months, in a non-combat role, to expand American military's advising and assisting mission and initiate a comprehensive training effort for Iraqi forces, Xinhua quoted John Kirby, press secretary for the US Department of Defence, as saying in a statement Friday.