Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey listens on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014, while testifying before the House Armed Services committee hearing on the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (The Associated Press)

BAGHDAD –  Iraqi state television says the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, has arrived in Baghdad, his first visit to Iraq since a U.S.-led coalition began a campaign of airstrikes targeting the extremist Islamic State group.

Dempsey, a veteran of the Iraq war, arrived Saturday on a previously unannounced visit.

His trip comes two days after he told Congress that the United States would consider dispatching a modest number of American forces to fight with Iraqi troops as they engage in more complex missions in the campaign against Islamic State militants who control about a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria.