U.S. President Barack Obama said that Washington is acting to prevent “genocide” as he authorised of U.S. warplanes bombing Islamist fighters marching on Iraq’s Kurdish capital, a hub for U.S. oil companies on Friday.
In their drive to eradicate unbelievers, the Islamic State fighters have beheaded and crucified captives. They had seized control of Iraq’s biggest dam which could allow them to flood cities thereby cutting off vital water and electricity supplies.
The Pentagon said that two F/A-18 aircrafts had dropped laser-guided 500-pound bombs on the fighters’ artillery while other airstrikes targeted an Islamic State convoy and mortar positions.
These were the first U.S. air strikes on Iraq since Obama pulled out all troops out of Iraq in 2011. The United States had also dropped relief supplies to tens of thousands members of the ancient Yazidi sect, who seeking shelter from fighters on a desert mountaintop.
In a late night television address to the U.S. nation on Thursday, Obama said that one Iraqi in that area cried to the world that there is no one coming to help them and today America is coming to help. He said that they can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide.
The White House said on Friday that the strikes would last as long as the security situation required. Meanwhile the Islamic State was defiant as a fighter claimes that the U.S. air strikes would have no impact on them as they are trained for guerrilla street war. Obama insisted that he would not commit ground forces and would not let the United States get dragged into another war in Iraq.
