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Hundreds of US special forces will join with elite SAS forces to crush Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, President Obama has said.

Speaking ahead of the 'G5' summit in Germany, the US Commander-in-Chief announced a five-fold increase in American special forces fighting IS on the ground.

It comes after the Mirror revealed British special forces are poised to launch a two-pronged assault on ISIS in the coming weeks.

“A small number of special operations forces are already on the ground in Syria, and their expertise has been critical as local forces have driven IS out of key areas,” Obama said.

“Given their success I've approved the deployment of up to 250 additional US personnel in Syria including special forces to keep up this momentum.”

(Image: Bob Morrison/DPL)

The move will take the number of US special forces operating in Syria from 50 to 300, and was warmly welcomed by the the main Syrian opposition groups.

Salem al-Meslet, spokesman of the High Negotiations Committee, said: " President Obama 's decision to deploy 250 more troops to fight the Daesh in Syria is a good step. We must rid our country of this scourge.”

It emerged American war ships could also be deployed to the Mediterranean to help deal with the migrants trying to cross over from the war-torn Middle East.

Read more:Failed female suicide bombers to be interviewed in jail in world's first study to help stop terror attacks

The current EU mission to stop migrants coming from Libya could be transformed into a full NATO operation under plans being discussed at the summit, G5 officials told the Mirror.

Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti revealed the plan could see a long-running NATO anti-terror operation "recalibrated" to patrol the Libyan coastline.

(Image: Getty Images)

"At the NATO level we have asked for Operation Active Endeavour to be recalibrated from an anti-terrorist operation in the Eastern Mediterranean to one which oversees the Libyan coast," Ms Pinotti said.

Asked if she expected a green light at NATO's next summit in Warsaw in July, Ms Pinotti replied: "Yes, certainly for the coordination of missions in the Mediterranean.

"At this summit the proposal should become an effective decision."

David Cameron used the G5 summit with Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande and Italian PM Matteo Renzi to push for Western powers to offer extra ships, training and funding to the Libyan coastguard in a bid to stem the flow of migrants.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said afterwards: "They agreed it was vital to give full support to the new Government of National Accord in Libya.

(Image: Downing Street/PA)

“The Prime Minister in particular made the case for seeking to work with the new Libyan government to build the capacity of the Libyan coast guard to help stem the flow of illegal migration across the Mediterranean into Europe.”

Mr Obama meanwhile give his personal backing to Mrs Merkel's controversial handling of the migration crisis, which has seen more than one million refugees flock to Germany.

"She is on the right side of history on this," Obama said in a press conference as Mrs Merkel looked on.

"She is giving voice to the kinds of principles that bring people together rather than divide them. And I'm very proud of her for that and I'm proud of the German people for that."

But eurosceptic MPs attacked the President and the German Chancellor for their handling of the crisis.

Tory MP Peter Bone said: "The President doesn't understand the situation.

"What she did was encourage people to make the deadly crossing and it was probably one of worst decisions a German Chancellor has made since the end of the Second World War.

"I think he is completely wrong."