Australia Sending Troops to Iraq

Australia is sending troops to Baghdad to protect Australian embassy personnel in the city.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Defense Minister David Johnston described the deployment as a “small Australian Defense Force… to support security arrangements.”

The Australian troops “will primarily liaise with the US military, which recently sent about 250 of its troops to its embassy in the city.” If the personnel at the Australian embassy face “an immediate threat,” it is believed they will be “moved to the much larger US compound for safety.”

On June 20, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abott said his first priority was “ensuring that our people in Baghdad are safe and that we have the capacity to remove them if necessary, to move them safely if necessary.”

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.