- GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: This story contains images of death that some readers may find disturbing
- Two F/A18 fighters dispatched to unleash 500lb laser-guided bombs on Islamic militants outside Kurdish capital Erbil
- It is America's first military offensive in Iraq since it pulled out of the country in 2011 after eight years at war
- Comes after Obama vowed to 'help' Iraqi forces with airstrikes to prevent 'a potential act of genocide'
- Hundreds of thousands of religious minorities have been driven from their homes as ISIS jihadists storm towns
- Some 50,000 Yazidis - half of them children - fled to hills after ISIS took Sinjar, the Yazidis' heartland in Iraq
- ISIS calls Yazidis devil worshippers because of their beliefs that predate Islam, Christianity and Judaism
- Obama said U.S. warplanes had already carried out airdrops of humanitarian aid to Yazidis holed up in Sinjar hills
- David Cameron welcomes airstrikes to help Iraqis 'in their hour of desperate need' but rules out British military action
- Foreign Office urges British nationals to stay away from Kurdistan as America pounded Islamic State positions
- FAA prohibits U.S. airlines and other commercial carriers from flying over Iraq as spectre of more airstrikes looms
The F/A-18C Hornets took off from the USS George H. W. Bush in the Persian Gulf this morning before unleashing 500lb laser-guided bombs on a unit of Islamic State fighters marching on Kurdish capital Erbil, where U.S. troops are stationed as well as the American consulate.
In an unusual move, news of America's first military offensive in Iraq since it pulled out of the country in 2011 after eight years at war was announced by Rear Admiral John Kirby through his Twitter account.
'US military aircraft conduct strike on ISIL artillery. Artillery was used against Kurdish forces defending Erbil, near US personnel,' he tweeted.
It begins: One of the two F/A-18C Hornet fighter
jets that bombed the ISIS artillery position prepares for takeoff from
the USS George H. W. Bush in the Persian Gulf before the dawn mission
this morning
And as the crisis in Iraq entered a new phase of international involvement, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned the U.S. has enough intelligence to clearly single out and hit Islamic militants if they threaten U.S. interests or the thousands of refugees who fled to a mountaintop.
Asked if the Islamic State group could successfully hide among civilians to evade strikes, Hagel said: 'It's pretty clear who they are, and they would be pretty identifiable where our airstrikes could be effective.'
It is understood that ISIS was using stolen artillery, abandoned by retreating Iraqi soldiers, to shell Kurdish forces defending the regional capital of Kurdistan.
Peshmerga Kurdistan forces are now waiting for more strikes by the US fighter jets before launching a full-scale counter attack against the ISIS assault.
The chaos engulfing Iraq has escalated rapidly in the past 24 hours, with a re-energised Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant storming towns in the north, executing villagers and chasing thousands from their homes into the mountains.
'We're coming to help': President Obama meets
with the National Security Council yesterday in the Situation Room of
the White House, hours before his address to the nation in which he
vowed to help the thousands of Iraqi civilians being driven from their
homes and slaughtered by the Islamic State extremists running rampant
through the country. That help came in the form of targeted airstrikes
on key ISIS positions today
Ready for action: And as soon as the first two
jets returned from their successful bombing run on ISIS fighters
marching on Erbil this morning, the flight deck of the George H. W. Bush
aircraft carrier came alive as more warplanes readied for action
Up to 50,000 terrified Yazidis - half of them children - have sought refuge from the bloodshed in the barren mountain range to the north of their hometown as their hunters close in.
But there they face an impossible dilemma - try to make it to the Turkish border and risk being captured and killed by insurgents, or remain on Mount Sinjar without food or water in the searing heat in the hope that aid will somehow get through.
Many have already died of hunger and thirst as they struggle to survive on just the food they could carry in temperatures exceeding 42C.
Photographs have emerged of Yazidi men carrying the limp bodies of dozens of young children either too exhausted to continue or killed by ISIS militants, who in turn have posted pictures online of themselves posing next to dead Yazidi men.
The dead men's wives were reportedly kept as trophies to be gifted to unmarried jihadist fighters.
Last night, in a televised late-night statement from the White House, Mr Obama said American warplanes had already carried out airdrops of food and water to the Iraqi Yazidis hiding in the mountains.
Innocent: Yazidi Iraqis on Mount Sinjar carry
the limp bodies children as they flee their ISIS hunters. Up to 50,000
terrified Yazidis - half of them children - have sought refuge from the
bloodshed in the barren mountain range to the north of their hometown.
But there they face an impossible dilemma - try to make it to the
Turkish border and risk being captured and killed by insurgents, or
remain on the mountain without food or water in the searing heat in the
hope that aid will somehow get through
Ruthless: An ISIS fighter poses next to a dead
Yazidi. ISIS have denounced the Yazidis as devil-worshipers on account
of their ancient set of beliefs and have issued them with an ultimatum
to convert to Islam, pay a religious fine, flee their homes or face
death
'Today
America is coming to help,' he declared, adding: 'The United States
cannot and should not intervene every time there’s a crisis in the
world.
'So let me be clear about why we must act, and act now: when we face a situation like we do on that mountain -- with innocent people facing the prospect of violence on a horrific scale, when we have a mandate to help . . . and when we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then I believe the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye.'
However, news of the strikes were not met with universal approval.
Retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey hit out at Obama for not going far enough with the bombardment. 'We dropped three aircraft loads of water and food to 50,000 people in the mountains,' he told MSNBC. 'Now we're striking ISIS artillery units. It looks to me as if a lot of this is internal U.S. politics to show we're doing something.'
He went on: 'I mean, if you're going to use military power, you have to write down your objective and then use decisive force to achieve your objective. So I'm a little dismayed at what we're up to here.'
His comments were later echoed by House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, who heaped scorn on the White House, railing: 'The president’s authorization of airstrikes is appropriate, but like many Americans, I am dismayed by the ongoing absence of a strategy for countering the grave threat ISIS poses to the region.
'So let me be clear about why we must act, and act now: when we face a situation like we do on that mountain -- with innocent people facing the prospect of violence on a horrific scale, when we have a mandate to help . . . and when we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then I believe the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye.'
However, news of the strikes were not met with universal approval.
Retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey hit out at Obama for not going far enough with the bombardment. 'We dropped three aircraft loads of water and food to 50,000 people in the mountains,' he told MSNBC. 'Now we're striking ISIS artillery units. It looks to me as if a lot of this is internal U.S. politics to show we're doing something.'
He went on: 'I mean, if you're going to use military power, you have to write down your objective and then use decisive force to achieve your objective. So I'm a little dismayed at what we're up to here.'
His comments were later echoed by House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, who heaped scorn on the White House, railing: 'The president’s authorization of airstrikes is appropriate, but like many Americans, I am dismayed by the ongoing absence of a strategy for countering the grave threat ISIS poses to the region.
Power and responsibility: Barack Obama cut a
lonely figure as he liased on the phone with King Abdullah II of Jordan
in the Oval Office of the White House. Some 6,000 miles away, U.S.
warplanes were carrying out his orders to bomb ISIS positions in a bid
to 'prevent a potential act of genocide'
Drama: The two American warplanes dropped 500lb
laser-guided bombs on an Islamic State artillery position Near Irbil in a
bid to halt the ISIS horde sweeping the country and save thousands of
innocent lives
Split: There are three main religious groups in
Iraq: Shia Arabs, the country's majority, Sunni Arabs and Kurds, who are
religiously Sunni but divided by their ethnicity. The is also a
minority of Christians scattered across northern Iraq, who comprise just
over 1 per cent of the population (roughly 450,000 people). ISIS, who
are Sunni Arab, have forced tens of thousands of Yazidis - an ancient
religion that predates Islam - from their heartland in Sinjar
ISIS fighters have beaten back the Kurdish peshmerga fighters - Iraq's most formidable fighting force - who have thus far fought tirelessly to defend their northern heartland, but are becoming stretched thin across several fronts.
In what will be seen as a major coup for the extremist force, they also seized the Mosul Dam - Iraq's largest - which places them in control of enormous power and water resources and access to the river that runs through the heart of Baghdad.
Panic even began to tear through the Kurdish capital of Erbil, long considered a safe haven, where civilians today flooded the airport in a futile attempt to buy tickets to the Iraqi capital.
And as shockwaves from the crisis reverberated around the world, oil companies began closing fields and evacuating staff from Kurdistan in a move that has caused shares to plummet.
WHO ARE THE YAZIDIS?
There are about 700,000 Yazidis in the world, living chiefly in northern Iraq and on Mount Sinjar.They are ethnically Kurdish but adhere to a religion founded some 6,000 years ago by an Ummayyad sheikh.
The religion, while it predates Christianity and Islam, incorporates elements of each, as well as Zoroastrianism, an ancient belief founded by an Iranian philosopher in around 6BC.
The Yazidis live in small communities mainly scattered through northwest Iraq, north west Syria and south east Turkey, although members are also found in Georgia and Armenia.
Accounts of their population vary, with estimates ranging from 50,000 to a million, and their number has fallen considerably over the past 100 years.
Despite this, they have a well-organised society, following a chief sheikh as their religious leader and an emir, or prince, as the secular head.
The religion is centred around worship of the fallen archangel Melek Tawwus, or Peacock Angel.
But unlike Satan's fall from grace, Melek Tawwus was readmitted into Heaven by God and represents humanity's potential for both good and evil.
For this reason, the Yazidis have unfairly garnered a reputation as devil-worshippers among certain faiths, and have faced centuries of alienation, oppression and attempted extermination. Yazidis - who do not believe in hell or evil - deny they are.
Many Yazidi traditions are shrouded in such secrecy that most have never been witnessed by outsiders. Yazidis regard marriage outside their faith as a sin punishable by ostracism or even death to restore lost honour.
Most Yazidis, even young people, choose to live in their isolated communities, though they often face extreme poverty.
The Yazidis have been targeted before, and claim to have been subjected to 72 genocides during the Ottoman rule of the 18th and 19th centuries.
In 2007 a series of massive truck bombs in northern Iraq killed nearly 500 villagers from the group in August 2007.
Now, forced to flee after the Islamic State group gave them an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay a religious fine, flee or face death, the plight of these secretive people is under the world's spotlight.
Yesterday ISIS captured Qaraqush and several others near Mosul following the withdrawal of Kurdish peshmerga fighters.
'(The Christians) have fled with nothing but their clothes, some of them on foot, to reach the Kurdistan region,' Patriarch Sako told AFP. 'This is a humanitarian disaster; the churches are occupied, their crosses were taken down.' He added that up to 1,500 manuscripts were burnt.
The Vatican said in a statement: 'His Holiness addresses an urgent appeal to the international community to take action to end the humanitarian tragedy now underway, to act to protect those affected or threatened by violence and to provide aid, especially for the most urgent needs of the many who have been forced to flee and who depend on the solidarity of others.'
While Iraq's Christian population has declined steeply since the end of the Iraq War, there are still some 450,000 - 1.2 per cent of the country - living there.
The rush of people expelled from their homes or fleeing violence has exacerbated Iraq's already-dire humanitarian crisis, with some 200,000 Iraqis joining the 1.5 million people already displaced from violence this year.
Yesterday, the al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State posted a statement online confirming it had captured the Mosul Dam and vowing to continue 'the march in all directions,' as it expands its self-styled caliphate.
The group said it has seized a total of 17 Iraqi cities, towns and targets - including Qaraqush and Sinjar. Their statement could not be independently verified, but it was posted on a website frequently used by militants.
Today's attack reflects the deepest American engagement in Iraq since US troops withdrew in late 2011 after nearly a decade of war.
Mr Obama, who made last night's remarks in a steady and sombre tone, has staked much of his legacy as president on ending what he has called the 'dumb war' in Iraq.
The president said the humanitarian airdrops were made at the request of the Iraqi government.
'We thank Barack Obama,' said Khalid Jamal Alber, from the religious affairs ministry in the semi-autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq.
In Baghdad, the Ministry of the Displaced also welcomed the aid drops. The ministry's spokesman, Satar Nawrouz, said the drops came 'just in time.'
Mindful of the public's aversion to another lengthy war, Mr Obama acknowledged that the prospect of a new round of US military action would be a cause for concern among many Americans.
He vowed anew not to put American combat troops back on the ground in Iraq and said there was no US military solution to the crisis.
'As commander in chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq,' Mr Obama said.
Even so, he outlined a rationale for airstrikes if the Islamic State militants advance on American troops in the northern city of Erbil and the US consulate there in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
The troops were sent to Iraq earlier this year as part of the White House response to the extremist group's swift movement across the border with Syria and into Iraq.
'When the lives of American citizens are at risk, we will take action,' Mr Obama said. 'That's my responsibility as commander in chief.'
He said he had also authorised the use of targeted military strikes if necessary to help the Iraqi security forces protect civilians.
The president spoke following a day of urgent discussions with his national security team.
He addressed the nation only after the American military aircraft delivering food and water to the Iraqis had safely left the drop site in northern Iraq.
The Pentagon said the airdrops were performed by one C-17 and two C-130 cargo aircraft that together delivered a total of 72 bundles of food and water.
They were escorted by two F/A-18 fighters from an undisclosed air base in the region.
The planes delivered 5,300 gallons of fresh drinking water and 8,000 pre-packaged meals and were over the drop area for less than 15 minutes at a low altitude.
The president cast the mission to assist the Yazidis as part of the American mandate to assist around the world when the US has the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre.
In those cases, Mr Obama said, 'we can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide'.
Officials said the US was prepared to undertake additional humanitarian airdrops if necessary, though they did not say how quickly those missions could occur.
With the spectre of further U.S. airstrikes on ISIS positions looming over the coming days, The Federal Aviation Administration became the first aviation body to prohibit airlines and other commercial carriers from flying over Iraq.
Other airlines quickly followed suit, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air France and Dubai-based Emirates.
In London, the Foreign Office urged British nationals to stay away from Kurdistan as American bombers pounded Islamic State positions in northern Iraq.
Earlier today, David Cameron welcomed US President Obama's decision to authorise airstrikes, saying the world must help religious minorities in Iraq who are under threat from the militants 'in their hour of desperate need' - but ruled out any British military intervention.
Instead, he said he had asked officials to look into what assistance the UK can provide.
In a statement on Friday morning, Mr Cameron said: 'I am extremely concerned by the appalling situation in Iraq and the desperate situation facing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. And I utterly condemn the barbaric attacks being waged by Isil terrorists across the region.
'I am especially concerned for the minority Yazidi community now trapped on Mount Sinjar, where they have fled for their lives.
Battle ready: Peshmerga Kurds show of their
readiness to fight ISIS on streets of Kurdish capital Erbil last night.
But their apparent confidence belied growing fears in the city, long
considered a safe haven, where civilians began flooding the airport in a
futile attempt to buy tickets to Baghdad
'And I fully agree with the president that we should stand up for the values we believe in - the right to freedom and dignity, whatever your religious beliefs.'
A Downing Street spokeswoman said the UK was 'not planning a military intervention'.
But Mr Cameron added: 'I have tasked officials to urgently establish what more we can do to provide help to those affected, including those in grave need of food, water and shelter in the Sinjar area.'
U.S. administration officials said they believe unilateral US strikes would be consistent with international law in part because the Iraqi government has asked for Washington to take military action.
They also said Mr Obama had the constitutional authority to act on his own in order to protect American citizens.
READY TO STRIKE: HOW THE UNITED STATES IS ARMED TO THE TEETH IN THE MIDDLE EAST AFTER MOVING SHIPS, JETS AND TROOPS WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE - AND BRITAIN HAS ITS BASE IN THE MED TO DROP AID FROM
Surrounded: The United States has spent recent
months moving its ships, jets and troops within striking distance with
today's attack on ISIS coming from the Persian Gulf
The strike on ISIS today came after U.S. forces spent the last two months moving ships, jets and troops within striking distance.
After President Obama gave the go ahead last night two F/A18 fighters flew off from an American 'supercarrier' in the Persian Gulf to fire 500lb laser-guided bombs on a group of Islamic militants outside Kurdish capital Erbil.
The jets were on the USS George H.W. Bush, which was ordered to travel 1,000 miles from the Arabian Sea to the Persian Gulf seven weeks ago.
It joined the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet - two aircraft carriers - the USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln - and several nuclear submarines armed with Tomahawk missiles.
Each carrier typically carries 64 aircraft, including the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft, E-2 Hawkeye surveillance planes and SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk helicopters.
Unmanned attacker: The United States has its
MQ-9 'Reaper' drones that can deliver Hellfire missiles more than 1,100
miles away, or drop 500-pound bombs itself
There are also five other U.S. ships believed to be in the Arabian Sea of needed.
Obama's operational choices are limited to launches from bases outside Iraq's borders.
Among them are Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which already houses command and logistics hubs for U.S. Central Command and was ground zero for air sorties over Afghanistan and Iraq since the early days of the George W. Bush administration.
Al-Udeid is still used for some air missions over Afghanistan and houses long-range B1-bombers.
Closer to Iraq's northern provinces is an American air base in Incirlik, Turkey, which the U.S. shares with Britain's Royal Air Force and the Turkish Air Force. After 2011, that facility inherited much of the airborne surveillance hardware – including drones – that the U.S. once launched from bases inside Iraq.
In addition, the U.S. commands a detachment of F-16 fighters in Jordan, where it has 2,000 troops based, according to a Pentagon official.
The superpower also has a massive arsenal of MQ-18 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper drones, capable of delivering Hellfire missiles more than 1,100 miles away.
The Reaper drones can also deliver 500-pound bombs.
Washington military expert Mark Gunzinger, a former Department of Defense official, told the Army Times: ‘Since we don’t have a large footprint in country and we don’t have a lot of combat aircraft in country I think anything more than small strikes and raids, if it’s a more concerted effort, will rely heavily on longer-range capabilities.
‘This could be a very different kind of an air campaign than we’ve done in the past, depending on the size and duration.’
The United States has around 800 personnel on the ground in Iraq - but not enough to launch an attack.
In late June it was announced that the U.S. was sending another 300 troops to Iraq to beef up security at its embassy and around Baghdad.
It does have 10,000 troops in Kuwait and stores millions of rounds of small arms fire, thousands of rounds of tank ammunition, helicopter-fired rockets, machine guns, grenades, flares, sniper rifles, M16s and M4 rifles.
Britain also has a RAF base in Cyprus, less than 100 miles from from Syria and 650 miles from Baghdad.
RAF Akrotiri was built in the mid 1950s and first used in the Suez crisis.
More recently the base was used as a supply post during the Iraq wars and also used to support the attacks on Libya in 2011.
Before intervention in Syria was voted down by the Commons, this is where the strikes would have come from.
Now it could be used for air drops to the Yazidi tribe who are trapped in the mountains of Iraq or the British could share American bases.
Safe for now: Displaced people, who fled from
the violence in the province of Nineveh, arrive at Sulaimaniya province
in Kurdistan
Long journey: Children sleep in the back of a truck which took them from the fighting to the safety of Kurdistan
Not enough: Villagers say food delivered by the
Iraqi army by helicopters is insufficient and people are beginning to
die of starvation and thirst in the extreme heat
Dying: It is reported that dozens of people,
mostly children, have died of hunger and thirst since ISIS fighters
surrounded Mount Sinjar
Fleeing: Officials said, tens of thousands of
Iraqis, mainly Yazidi and Christian families, living in Iraq's Sinjar
district bordering Syria were desperately trying to escape the country
for fear of massacres by the militants
Safe for now: Iraqi Christians who fled the
violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kilometres east of the
northern province of Nineveh, rest upon their arrival at the
Saint-Joseph church in the Kurdish city of Arbil, in Iraq's autonomous
Kurdistan region
Scared: ISIS hordes have been particularly
ruthless in their treatment of Iraqi Christians. Thousands have fled
since ISIS seized Qaraqush, Iraq's largest Christian town, and several
others near Mosul following the withdrawal of Kurdish peshmerga
fighters, inhabitants said
Still, there was no guarantee that the president's threat of military strikes would actually be followed by action.
He similarly authorised strikes in Syria last summer after chemical weapons were deployed, but those attacks were never carried out, in part because of domestic political concerns and also because an international agreement to strip Syria of its stockpiles of the deadly gases.
The president has also faced persistent calls to take military action in Syria on humanitarian grounds, given that more than 170,000 people have been killed there.
Critics, including some Republicans in Congress, have argued that Mr Obama's cautious approach to Syria has allowed the Islamic State group to flourish there, growing strong enough to move across the border with Iraq and make swift gains.
Shockwaves: David Cameron (left) welcomed U.S.
intervention in Iraq but ruled out British military involvement while
Pope Francis begged world leaders to step in
Isis fighters reportedly gained control of this dam in Mosul, giving them power over the main water supply to Baghdad
Fight back: Soldiers of the Kurdish Peshmerga
forces and Shiite volunteers take position during fighting with ISIS
fighters, in Amerly town, northeastern Baghdad. The Kurds, who suffered
horrifically under Saddam Hussein, have exploited the recent crisis to
grant themselves greater autonomy
Brave: But the Kurds have nonetheless fought
tirelessly against the ISIS hordes in a desperate bid to protect their
heartland and other religious denominations under threat
Back to Iraq? The announcements reflected the
deepest American engagement in Iraq since US troops withdrew in late
2011 after nearly a decade of war
In light of the militants' advances, Mr Obama sent about 800 US forces to Iraq earlier this year, with those troops largely split between joint operation centres in Baghdad and Erbil.
More than half are providing security for the embassy and US personnel. American service members also are involved in improving US intelligence, providing security cooperation and conducting assessments of Iraqi capabilities.
Officials said there were no plans to evacuate those Americans from Iraq but that the US was conducting enhanced intelligence flights over Erbil with both manned and unmanned aircrafts in order to monitor the deteriorating conditions.
If the president were to order actual airstrikes in Iraq, it is all but certain he would proceed without formal congressional approval.
Politicians left town last week for a five-week recess, and there was no sign that Congress was being called back.
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