U.S. begins airstrikes on Iraq
President Barack Obama authorized U.S. air strikes on Iraq to prevent “genocide” by Islamist jihadists against religious minorities.
- Sailors make final inspections on an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the Golden Warriors of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87 aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Gulf, in this August 7, 2014 handout image released on August 8. Two F/A-18 aircraft conducted an airstrike on Friday against Islamic State artillery used against Kurdish forces defending the city of Arbil, near U.S. personnel, a Pentagon spokesman said. Picture taken August 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Margaret Keith/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters)
- Sailors guide an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the Valions of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 15 on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Gulf, in this handout image taken and released on August 8, 2014. Two F/A-18 aircraft from the squadron conducted an airstrike on Friday against Islamic State artillery used against Kurdish forces defending the city of Arbil, near U.S. personnel, a Pentagon spokesman said. (REUTERS/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Lorelei Vander Griend/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters)
- Kurdish peshmerga troops patrol in a tank during an operation against Islamic State militants in Makhmur, on the outskirts of the province of Nineveh August 7, 2014. The United States began to drop relief supplies to beleaguered Yazidi refugees fleeing Islamist militants in Iraq, but there was no immediate sign on Friday of U.S. air strikes to halt the sweeping advance of Islamic State fighters. Picture taken August 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Stringer)
- Displaced people, who fled from the violence in the province of Nineveh, arrive at Sulaimaniya province August 7, 2014. The United States began to drop relief supplies to beleaguered Yazidi refugees fleeing Islamist militants in Iraq, but there was no immediate sign on Friday of U.S. air strikes to halt the sweeping advance of Islamic State fighters. Picture taken August 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Stringer)
- Displaced people, who fled from the violence in the province of Nineveh, arrive at Sulaimaniya province August 7, 2014. The United States began to drop relief supplies to beleaguered Yazidi refugees fleeing Islamist militants in Iraq, but there was no immediate sign on Friday of U.S. air strikes to halt the sweeping advance of Islamic State fighters. Picture taken August 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Stringer)
- A member of the Kurdish peshmerga troops stands on a tank during an operation against Islamic State militants in Makhmur, on the outskirts of the province of Nineveh August 7, 2014. The United States began to drop relief supplies to beleaguered Yazidi refugees fleeing Islamist militants in Iraq, but there was no immediate sign on Friday of U.S. air strikes to halt the sweeping advance of Islamic State fighters. Picture taken August 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Stringer)
- Kurdish peshmerga troops patrol in a tank during an operation against Islamic State militants in Makhmur, on the outskirts of the province of Nineveh August 7, 2014. The United States began to drop relief supplies to beleaguered Yazidi refugees fleeing Islamist militants in Iraq, but there was no immediate sign on Friday of U.S. air strikes to halt the sweeping advance of Islamic State fighters. Picture taken August 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Stringer)
- A member of the Kurdish peshmerga forces sit with a weapon during an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants in Makhmur, on the outskirts of the province of Nineveh August 7, 2014. The United States began to drop relief supplies to beleaguered Yazidi refugees fleeing Islamist militants in Iraq, but there was no immediate sign on Friday of U.S. air strikes to halt the sweeping advance of Islamic State fighters. Picture taken August 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Stringer)
- Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants in Makhmur, on the outskirts of the province of Nineveh August 7, 2014. The United States began to drop relief supplies to beleaguered Yazidi refugees fleeing Islamist militants in Iraq, but there was no immediate sign on Friday of U.S. air strikes to halt the sweeping advance of Islamic State fighters. Picture taken August 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Stringer)
- Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants on the front line in Khazer August 8, 2014. U.S. warplanes bombed Islamist fighters marching on Iraq’s Kurdish capital on Friday after President Barack Obama said Washington must act to prevent “genocide”. (REUTERS/Azad Lashkari)
- Iraqi Shiite volunteers who have joined government forces to fight Sunni jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) take part in a training session near the southern port city of Basra on August 7, 2014. A UN statement said some reports put the number of people forced to flee by the IS takeover at 200,000. (HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI/AFP/Getty Images)
- Shiite Iraqi Kurds, known as “Shabak”, displaced by fierce fighting between Kurdish peshmerga forces and jihadist militants from the Islamic State (IS) stopf or water on the road between Kirkuk and Arbil having fled the area of Bartala near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, on August 8, 2014. Jihadists seized Iraq’s largest dam north of their hub of Mosul, giving them control over the supply of water and electricity for a vast area, officials said. (MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images)
- A popular committee fighter supporting Iraqi government forces campaign against jihadist militants from the Islamic State (IS) guards a position in the town of Taza Khurmatu, roughly 20 kilometers south of the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk as fighting on the front line continued on August 8, 2014. President Barack Obama has ordered US warplanes back into Iraqi skies to stop jihadists from moving into autonomous Kurdistan and carrying out a potential genocide against displaced minorities. (ALI AL-BAYATI/AFP/Getty Images)
- Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take position on a tank on the front line in Khazer, near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski kalak, 40 km West of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on August 8, 2014. A spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga force said US warplanes bombed Islamic State jihadist targets in two areas of northern Iraq. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
- Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take position on the front line in Khazer, near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski kalak, 40 km West of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on August 8, 2014. A spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga force said US warplanes bombed Islamic State jihadist targets in two areas of northern Iraq. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
- Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take position on the front line in Khazer, near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski kalak, 40 km West of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on August 8, 2014. A spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga force said US warplanes bombed Islamic State jihadist targets in two areas of northern Iraq. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
- Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take position on the front line in Khazer, near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski kalak, 40 km West of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on August 8, 2014. A spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga force said US warplanes bombed Islamic State jihadist targets in two areas of northern Iraq. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
- Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take position on the front line in Khazer, near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski kalak, 40 km West of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on August 8, 2014. A spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga force said US warplanes bombed Islamic State jihadist targets in two areas of northern Iraq. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
- Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take position on the front line in Khazer, near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski kalak, 40 km West of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on August 8, 2014. A spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga force said US warplanes bombed Islamic State jihadist targets in two areas of northern Iraq. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
- Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take position on the front line in Khazer, near the Kurdish checkpoint of Aski kalak, 40 km West of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on August 8, 2014. A spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga force said US warplanes bombed Islamic State jihadist targets in two areas of northern Iraq. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)
- Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants on the front line in Khazer on August 8, 2014. U.S. warplanes bombed Islamist fighters marching on Iraq’s Kurdish capital on Friday after President Barack Obama said Washington must act to prevent “genocide”. (REUTERS/Azad Lashkari)
- Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants on the front line in Khazer August 8, 2014. U.S. warplanes bombed Islamist fighters marching on Iraq’s Kurdish capital on Friday after President Barack Obama said Washington must act to prevent “genocide”. (REUTERS/Azad Lashkari)
- Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants on the front line in Khazer August 8, 2014. U.S. warplanes bombed Islamist fighters marching on Iraq’s Kurdish capital on Friday after President Barack Obama said Washington must act to prevent “genocide”. (REUTERS/Azad Lashkari)
- Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment against Islamic State militants on the front line in Khazer on August 8, 2014. U.S. warplanes bombed Islamist fighters marching on Iraq’s Kurdish capital on Friday after President Barack Obama said Washington must act to prevent “genocide”. (REUTERS/Azad Lashkari)
- Sailors launch aircraft from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Gulf, in this August 7, 2014 handout image released on August 8. Two F/A-18 aircraft conducted an airstrike on Friday against Islamic State artillery used against Kurdish forces defending the city of Arbil, near U.S. personnel, a Pentagon spokesman said. Picture taken August 7, 2014. (REUTERS/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Joshua Card/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters)