Japan will dispatch some 550 ground troops to southern Iraq in four waves starting in early February and ending in late March.

The plan is outlined in a draft basic plan on dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq that was obtained Friday by Kyodo News. The plan also calls for sending Air Self-Defense Force C-130 cargo planes to Kuwait in mid-January to transport goods to and from Iraq.

The government plans to adopt the basic plan at a Cabinet meeting by mid-December, government sources said. It will map out by the end of this year a detailed plan on when and where the SDF deployment to help rebuild Iraq will happen.