Full Coverage: Islamic State Advances in Iraq; Obama Issues Drone Strikes
BAGHDAD (Worthy News)– Thousands of Christians fled as the ‘Islamic State’ (IS) seized Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian city, on Thursday. U.S. President Barack Obama authorized airstrikes against the jihadists and approved a humanitarian mission to deliver food and other supplies to Iraq. Meanwhile , the U.S. suspended delivery of F-16’s and Apache gunships as IS continues to lay seige to Iraq’s largest air force base at Balad, formerly known as Camp Anaconda.
Related News on the Internet
Obama authorizes limited airstrikes in Iraq: ‘We cannot turn a blind eye’ – Washington Examiner
Arguing that the U.S. could not ignore the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, President Obama Thursday night announced that he had authorized limited air strikes, one of the boldest military moves of his presidency.
The decision marks a reversal of Obama’s long-stated goal of ending U.S. military intervention in Iraq, as well as his current, more supervisory approach to the violent turmoil in the country prompted by Islamic insurgents’ siege of large swaths of the country.
Jihadist offensive in Iraq sparks mass Christian exodus – Times of Israel
Jihadists took over Iraq’s largest Christian town and surrounding areas on Thursday and sent tens of thousands of panicked residents fleeing towards autonomous Kurdistan, officials and witnesses said.
Jihadists Rout Kurds in North and Seize Strategic Iraqi Dam – NY Times
The crisis gripping Iraq escalated rapidly on Thursday with a re-energized Islamic State in Iraq and Syria storming new towns in the north and seizing a strategic dam as Iraq’s most formidable military force, the Kurdish pesh merga, was routed in the face of the onslaught.
Iraq’s largest Christian city falls to ISIL; Kurdish forces retreat from Qaraqosh – Washington Times
Sunni radicals with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have now taken control of Iraq’s largest Christian city. Kurdish forces, which have served as a last line of defense against the Islamic terrorist group, retreated Thursday from Qaraqosh.
Islamic State pulls down church crosses in northern Iraq as 200,000 flee – UK Telegraph
Islamic State, the jihadist group formerly known as Isis, have occupied churches in Iraq, removing crosses and destroying manuscripts, witnesses report, having overrun Kurdish troops forcing 200,000 to flee.
ISIL advance in Iraq prompts U.S. to suspend deliveries of F-16s, Apaches – World Tribune
The United States has suspended the delivery of military aircraft to Iraq. Officials said the administration of President Barack Obama has rebuffed Iraqi requests for the combat aircraft after concluding that the Iraqi military was not capable of securing these platforms amid the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
U.S. Approves Airstrikes on Iraq, Airdrops Aid – Wall Street Journal
President Barack Obama authorized targeted airstrikes and emergency assistance missions in northern Iraq, saying Thursday the U.S. must act to protect American personnel and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the face of advances by violent Islamist militants.
U.S. military air-drops relief supplies in Iraq – Washington Examiner
The U.S. air-dropped relief supplies to a Kurdish area in northern Iraq Thursday where Islamic militants have trapped tens of thousands of religious minorities on a mountain.