Iraq: Obama authorizes airstrikes against ISIS

U.S. President Barack Obama PHOTO/Charles Dharapak/AP

U.S. President Barack Obama announced Thursday night that he had authorized airstrikes to protect members of an ancient religious minority group stranded on a mountain, facing starvation and the threat of mass execution.

Thousands of Yazidis now find themselves trapped by the al-Qaeda splinter group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). Obama announced that a successful aerial drop of humanitarian supplies had already been completed, and airstrikes could follow.

U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq in 2011 after having ousted ruler Saddam Hussein 8 years earlier. Obama insisted the United States would not commit ground troops.

Obama noted that he was elected on a promise to remove American troops from Iraq and he promised that he would not conclude his time in office by sending them back in. “There is no decision that I take more seriously than the use of military force,” he said, reiterating a promise not to send in combat troops.

He cited two reasons for the military authorization in this case: the opportunity to save Yazidi civilians, and the duty to protect U.S. diplomats working in a northern Iraqi area where the ISIS militants were approaching.

Meanwhile, U.S. military aircraft conducted an airstrike on Friday against ISIS whose fighters are bent on establishing a caliphate and eradicating unbelievers.

Source: Newswires