US airstrikes on ISIS in Iraq begin, airdrops of food and water also continue
The U.S. conducted a second airdrop of food and water for thousands of refugees trapped in Iraq’s Sinjar mountains early Saturday after launching airstrikes in northern Iraq against Islamic militants which began Friday.
Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon spokesman, says that three planes dropped 72 bundles of supplies for the refugees. Included in the aid were more than 28,000 meals and more than 1,500 gallons of water.
The Islamic State in Iraq is underattack by the US forces
Militia leader Moktar Belmoktar Algeria hostage crisis video screenshot
The U.S. military launched two more rounds of airstrikes, taking out two mortar positions and a seven-vehicle convoy, the Pentagon said. The strikes came just hours after American fighter jets struck an artillery site. Kirby said the U.S. launched the latest airstrikes to help defend the city of Irbil, where U.S. personnel are “assisting the government of Iraq.”
Kirby detailed how a drone struck a terrorist mortar position, and when Islamic militant fighters returned to the site moments later, “the terrorists were attacked again and successfully eliminated.”
“As the president made clear, the United States military will continue to take direct action against [IS] when they threaten our personnel and facilities,” Kirby said.
IS meaning Islamic State, which is being used more commonplace after their names ISIS: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIL: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
“President Obama has been unequivocal that he will do what is necessary when it’s in our interest to confront ISIL and its threat to the security of the region and to our own security in the long run,” Secretary of State John Kerry said.
Prior to the President’s decision to intervene in Iraq on Thursday, ISIS have begun ravaging northern Iraq, claimed destruction of Jonah’s tomb in Nineveh and threatened more destruction having seizing the Mosul Dam. If the dam is destroyed experts say a 65-foot-tall tsunami like wall of water will flood down on Iraq. More on these stories HERE
These attacks mark the deepest U.S. engagement in the country since the troop withdrawal in late 2011.
