ISIS fighters stand on the verge of victory on two fronts as poorly equipped local forces do their best to resist.

The Islamist extremists appear set to take a key Syrian town along the Turkish border and an entire province on Baghdad's doorstep.

Leaders in Iraq's Anbar province pleaded for U.S. ground troops to halt the group's rapid, relentless assault.

On Sunday, the leader of U.S. military efforts to fight ISIS in Iraq says the terror group came within 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) of the Baghdad airport.

Offering what appeared to be previously unreported details, Gen. Martin Dempsey told ABC's "This Week" that the United States had to risk bringing in low-flying attack helicopters to keep ISIS at bay.

"The tool that was immediately available was the Apache (helicopter). The risk of operating in a hostile environment is there constantly," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

"You're not going to wait until they're climbing over the wall," Dempsey said. "Had (ISIS forces) overrun the Iraqi unit, it was a straight shot to the Baghdad airport. So, we're not going to let that happen."

ISIS, the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" which also is referred to as ISIL, controls about 80% of the province, said Anbar Provincial Council president Sabah Al-Karhout.

Reports suggest the militants have encircled Haditha, the last large town in Anbar not yet in ISIS' hands.

In a major setback, Gen. Ahmed Saddak, the police chief of Anbar province, was killed over the weekend in a roadside bomb that targeted his convoy, officials said.

Should all of Anbar fall, the Sunni extremists would rule from the perimeter of Iraq's capital to Raqqa in Syria, at least, according to the provincial council's deputy head, Falleh al-Issawi.

They would control a swath 350 miles (563 kilometers) long.

Iraqi army forces and Anbar tribesmen fighting alongside them have threatened to abandon their weapons if the U.S. military does not intervene, al-Issawi said.

The army soldiers lack training and equipment, he said. Already, some 1,800 tribesmen in the province have been killed or injured in the struggle.

But the Iraqi government has been adamant that it does not want U.S. forces on the ground, and U.S. President Barack Obama has not shown any intent to deploy any.

The Iraqi government said it has not received any official request from Anbar province for U.S. ground forces to help in the fight, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's media office said.

A U.S. defense official has said that Iraq's government hasn't asked for any more American troops beyond those already in Iraq.

And if they did, the official added, "The U.S. will not deploy combat ground forces to Iraq. And we remain focused on enabling the (Iraqi military) in the fight against ISIL through our advise/assist efforts and the air campaign."

U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice echoed that comment Sunday, and said that Turkey would allow the United States and its partners to use bases and territory to train.

"They have said that their facilities inside Turkey can be used by coalition forces, American and otherwise, to engage in activities inside Iraq and Syria," she told NBC's "Meet The Press."

"That's a new commitment and one that we very much welcome," she said.

(CNN)