President Barack Obama has said he is sending up to 300 military advisers to help the Iraqi government in its fight against Islamic extremists as a battle over Iraq's biggest refinery continues to rage.
Speaking at the White House last night, Mr Obama said he was prepared to take "targeted" military action but stressed that US troops would not return to combat in Iraq.
He said additional equipment and up to 300 additional military advisers would be provided to help battle the Islamic extremist group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), which has seized large swathes of the country.
The contingent will be made up of special forces and will staff joint operations centres for intelligence sharing and planning, officials said.
"American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq but we will help Iraqis as they take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people, the region and American interests as well," Mr Obama said.
US military advisers will be sent into Iraq to help Iraqi forces The president also said he was sending Secretary of State John Kerry to the Middle East and Europe at the weekend for talks with US allies and partners on ways to stabilise the region.
A US official added Mr Kerry was "expected to go Iraq soon" to meet Iraqi officials, but did not specify a date.
Mr Obama stressed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki needed to take urgent steps to heal Iraq's sectarian rift, but stopped short of calling for him to go, saying: "It's not our job to choose Iraq's leaders."
He added: "Above all, Iraqi leaders must rise above their differences and come together around a political plan for Iraq's future."
Leading US lawmakers have joined calls for Mr al Maliki to quit as a condition of US help in driving back the Islamic extremists.
The call for Nouri al Maliki to quit as a condition of US help is growing Sunni tribal chief Sheik Ali Hatem al Suleiman, the emir of the Sunni Dulaim tribe from Anbar province, said Mr Obama could no longer rely on Mr al Maliki to solve the rising insurgency.
He said: "I think that most of President Obama's speech, but not all of it, was shallow and didn't address the heart of the matter.
"It talked about participation, it talked about a national government, but you can't come to Iraq with a speech that doesn't address the truth of the problem.
"And the real problem in Iraq is al Maliki himself.? I don't think Obama's speech addressed the reality of today's Iraq.
"You can't rely on him. The man has become paralysed."
Mr al Suleiman also criticised Mr Obama's decision to send 300 military advisers to Iraq.
"Three hundred advisors just when you withdraw these 300 advisors, Iraq will lose its balance for one reason?"
The Baiji oil refinery has been the scene of fierce fighting As Mr Obama announced his most significant response to the Iraqi crisis, the sprawling Baiji refinery, 130 miles (200km) north of the capital near Tikrit, was transformed into a battlefield.
Troops loyal to the Shia-led government held off the ISIS insurgents and their allies who had stormed the perimeter a day earlier, threatening national energy supplies.
A government spokesman said at one point on Thursday that Iraqi forces were in "complete control", but a witness in Baiji said fighting was continuing.
Two Iraqi helicopters tried to land in the refinery but were unable to because of insurgent gunfire, and most of the refinery remained under rebel control, witnesses said.
ISIS has seized a chemical weapons facility built by Saddam Hussein, which contains a stockpile of old weapons, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But US officials are reportedly confident that any weapons stored at the Al Muthanna complex - which has not been in active use for years - are not usable.
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