A contingent of Turkish troops and a tank battalion have been stationed in the Iraqi settlement of Bashiqa since March of 2015 – purportedly to train local troops to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). Turkish media say there may currently be up to 700 Turkish nationals at the base, and Ankara says that 3,000 Iraqi fighters trained there are taking part in the fierce fighting to retake Mosul from IS, which has held it since June of 2014.