New Iraqi army recruits gather in Najaf on Wednesday, June 18, following a call for Iraqis to take up arms against Islamic militant fighters. Vast swaths of northern Iraq, including the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar, have fallen as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, advances toward Baghdad. The ISIS militants want to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the region, stretching from Iraq into northern Syria.Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- The initial group of U.S. military advisers will arrive in Iraq on Saturday, a senior defense official said, as crowds paraded nationwide in a show of unity for the government.
This first detail is expected to be very small, the official said. The total number of U.S. military advisers who will eventually deploy will be about 300.
In addition, some U.S. military personnel already at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will be reassigned and become advisers, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
The first group of advisers will conduct an initial assessment of Iraqi troop capabilities and of what may be needed for a larger group of U.S. advisers, including additional security measures where they may be deployed, a senior defense official said Friday.
Meanwhile, Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his supporters to hold a military parade nationwide to enhance unity among Iraqis. He has previously called for people to protect the country's Shiite and Christian religious sites.
More than 1 million Iraqis have fled their homes this year because of conflict, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday. The number is likely to rise as Islamist militants and Iraqi security forces battle for control.
An estimated 800,000 people left Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul after it fell to fighters from the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS), the International Committee of the Red Cross said. The city has a population of 1.6 million.
Obama: We gave Iraq a chance 
Will there be a third Iraq war? 
ISIS takes chemical weapons complexISIS, born from an al Qaeda splinter group and supported by Sunni factions, continues its fierce advance in Iraq.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government is accused of fostering sectarian tensions by marginalizing Iraq's Sunni Arab and Kurd minorities.
Obama told CNN on Friday that U.S. military efforts are hopeless without a change in government.
'If we don't see Sunni, Shia and Kurd representation in the military command structure, if we don't see Sunni, Shia and Kurd political support for what we're doing, we won't do it,' he said.
The complete interview will be aired Monday on CNN's 'New Day.'
The United States withdrew its final troops from Iraq in 2011, nearly nine years after leading the invasion that ousted longtime leader Saddam Hussein.
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