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| President Barack Obama meets with the National Security Council in the Situation Room of the White House in Washington to discuss the crisis in Iraq on Thursday |
The Islamic State's Sunni militants, an offshoot of al Qaeda who have swept across northwestern Iraq in recent weeks, have come within a 30-minute drive of the Kurdish capital Arbil
Washington/Arbil: President Barack Obama said on Thursday he had authorized limited U.S. airstrikes to blunt the onslaught of Islamic militants in northern Iraq and began military airdrops of humanitarian supplies to besieged religious minorities to prevent a "potential act of genocide."
Speaking after meetings with his national security team, Obama - in his most significant response to the Iraq crisis – said he approved "targeted" use of air power to protect U.S. personnel if Islamic State militants advance further toward the Kurdish capital Arbil or threaten Americans anywhere in the country.
The airstrikes would be the first carried out by the U.S. military in Iraq since the withdrawal of its forces at the end of 2011, but Obama insisted he would not commit ground forces and had no intention of letting the United States get dragged back into a war there.
Obama took action amid international fears of a humanitarian catastrophe engulfing tens of thousands of members of Iraq’s minority Yazidi sect driven out of their homes and stranded on Sinjar mountain under threat from rampaging militants of Islamic State, an al Qaeda splinter group. Many Iraqi Christians have also fled for their lives.
"We can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide," Obama told reporters at the White House.
Obama was responding to urgent appeals from Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to help cope with an unfolding humanitarian crisis as the militants surged across northern Iraq.
It was unclear, however, whether the measures announced by Obama would be enough to halt the militant advance or shift the balance on the battlefield in favor of embattled Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
Reuters photographs showed what appeared to be Islamic State fighters controlling a checkpoint at the border area of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region, little over 30 minutes' drive from Arbil, a city of 1.5 million that is headquarters of the Kurdish regional government and many businesses.
The fighters had raised the movement's black flag over the guard post. However, a Kurdish security official denied that the militants were in control of the Khazer checkpoint, and the regional government said its forces were advancing and would "defeat the terrorists," urging people to stay calm.
With the refugees on the mountaintop desperately short of food, water and medicine, U.S. aircraft began dropping emergency aid in the area shortly before Obama spoke on Thursday.
"We intend to stay vigilant and take action if these terrorist forces threaten our personnel or facilities anywhere in Iraq, including our consulate in Arbil and our embassy in Baghdad.” he said.
Obama sent in a small number of U.S. military advisers in June to help the Iraqi government’s efforts to fend off the Islamic militant offensive, but he was reluctant to take direct military action. He had put the onus on Iraq’s Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to form a more inclusive government to help defuse the crisis.
Washington’s calculus appeared to shift after Islamic State, which routed the Iraqi military in the north and seized a broad swath of territory in recent months, made recent gains against Kurdish forces and moved toward Arbil, capital of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region.
Obama's decision to deepen U.S. re-engagement in Iraq came after urgent deliberations by a president who won the White House in 2008 on a pledge to disentangle the United States from the long, unpopular war there.
Until this week, most of Kurdistan had been protected from militants by its own armed forces, called the pesh merga. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis fleeing the Islamists, including Christians, Yazidis and others, have taken refuge in the Kurdish area.
The Islamic State's Sunni militants have swept across northwestern Iraq in recent weeks. The Islamic State views as infidels Iraq's majority Shi'ites and minorities such as Christians and Yazidis, a Kurdish ethno-religious community.
UN chief, Security Council urge international help for Iraq
United Nations: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Security Council on Thursday called for the international community to help Iraq's government and people as the country struggles against a sweeping advance by Islamist militants.
The Security Council held an emergency meeting after Islamic State fighters surged toward the capital of the Kurdish region, sending tens of thousands of Christians fleeing for their lives, in an offensive that prompted talk of Western military action.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said he would circulate a draft resolution to the 15-member council later on Thursday that seeks to address the threat of the Islamic State - formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Lyall Grant said the text, which he hoped could be negotiated in the coming days, outlines practical steps for "tackling the funding and recruitment for ISIL" and also proposes listing key Islamic State leaders under the Security Council's al Qaeda sanctions regime.
In a statement, Ban called "on the international community, especially those with the influence and resources to positively impact the situation, to support the Government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq."
The Security Council echoed Ban's call and condemned "the systematic persecution of individuals from minority populations and those who refuse the extremist ideology of ISIL and associated armed groups."
"The members of the Security Council reiterate that widespread or systematic attacks directed against any civilian populations because of their ethnic background, political grounds, religion or belief may constitute a crime against humanity, for which those responsible must be held accountable," it said in a statement.
This was the third Security Council statement related to the Islamic State, which is considered more extreme than al Qaeda, in the past two weeks.
Ban said he was "deeply appalled" by reports of recent attacks by Islamic State militants in Kirkuk and Qaraqosh.
Sunni militants captured Qaraqosh, Iraq's biggest Christian town, prompting many residents to flee, while in Kirkuk two car bombs exploded and killed 11 people near a Shi'ite mosque holding displaced people, said security and medical sources.
The Isalmic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria to rule over all Muslims, poses the biggest challenge to the stability of Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Speaking after meetings with his national security team, Obama - in his most significant response to the Iraq crisis – said he approved "targeted" use of air power to protect U.S. personnel if Islamic State militants advance further toward the Kurdish capital Arbil or threaten Americans anywhere in the country.
The airstrikes would be the first carried out by the U.S. military in Iraq since the withdrawal of its forces at the end of 2011, but Obama insisted he would not commit ground forces and had no intention of letting the United States get dragged back into a war there.
Obama took action amid international fears of a humanitarian catastrophe engulfing tens of thousands of members of Iraq’s minority Yazidi sect driven out of their homes and stranded on Sinjar mountain under threat from rampaging militants of Islamic State, an al Qaeda splinter group. Many Iraqi Christians have also fled for their lives.
"We can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide," Obama told reporters at the White House.
Obama was responding to urgent appeals from Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to help cope with an unfolding humanitarian crisis as the militants surged across northern Iraq.
It was unclear, however, whether the measures announced by Obama would be enough to halt the militant advance or shift the balance on the battlefield in favor of embattled Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
Reuters photographs showed what appeared to be Islamic State fighters controlling a checkpoint at the border area of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region, little over 30 minutes' drive from Arbil, a city of 1.5 million that is headquarters of the Kurdish regional government and many businesses.
The fighters had raised the movement's black flag over the guard post. However, a Kurdish security official denied that the militants were in control of the Khazer checkpoint, and the regional government said its forces were advancing and would "defeat the terrorists," urging people to stay calm.
With the refugees on the mountaintop desperately short of food, water and medicine, U.S. aircraft began dropping emergency aid in the area shortly before Obama spoke on Thursday.
"We intend to stay vigilant and take action if these terrorist forces threaten our personnel or facilities anywhere in Iraq, including our consulate in Arbil and our embassy in Baghdad.” he said.
Obama sent in a small number of U.S. military advisers in June to help the Iraqi government’s efforts to fend off the Islamic militant offensive, but he was reluctant to take direct military action. He had put the onus on Iraq’s Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to form a more inclusive government to help defuse the crisis.
Washington’s calculus appeared to shift after Islamic State, which routed the Iraqi military in the north and seized a broad swath of territory in recent months, made recent gains against Kurdish forces and moved toward Arbil, capital of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region.
Obama's decision to deepen U.S. re-engagement in Iraq came after urgent deliberations by a president who won the White House in 2008 on a pledge to disentangle the United States from the long, unpopular war there.
Until this week, most of Kurdistan had been protected from militants by its own armed forces, called the pesh merga. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis fleeing the Islamists, including Christians, Yazidis and others, have taken refuge in the Kurdish area.
The Islamic State's Sunni militants have swept across northwestern Iraq in recent weeks. The Islamic State views as infidels Iraq's majority Shi'ites and minorities such as Christians and Yazidis, a Kurdish ethno-religious community.
UN chief, Security Council urge international help for Iraq
United Nations: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Security Council on Thursday called for the international community to help Iraq's government and people as the country struggles against a sweeping advance by Islamist militants.
The Security Council held an emergency meeting after Islamic State fighters surged toward the capital of the Kurdish region, sending tens of thousands of Christians fleeing for their lives, in an offensive that prompted talk of Western military action.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said he would circulate a draft resolution to the 15-member council later on Thursday that seeks to address the threat of the Islamic State - formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Lyall Grant said the text, which he hoped could be negotiated in the coming days, outlines practical steps for "tackling the funding and recruitment for ISIL" and also proposes listing key Islamic State leaders under the Security Council's al Qaeda sanctions regime.
In a statement, Ban called "on the international community, especially those with the influence and resources to positively impact the situation, to support the Government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq."
The Security Council echoed Ban's call and condemned "the systematic persecution of individuals from minority populations and those who refuse the extremist ideology of ISIL and associated armed groups."
"The members of the Security Council reiterate that widespread or systematic attacks directed against any civilian populations because of their ethnic background, political grounds, religion or belief may constitute a crime against humanity, for which those responsible must be held accountable," it said in a statement.
This was the third Security Council statement related to the Islamic State, which is considered more extreme than al Qaeda, in the past two weeks.
Ban said he was "deeply appalled" by reports of recent attacks by Islamic State militants in Kirkuk and Qaraqosh.
Sunni militants captured Qaraqosh, Iraq's biggest Christian town, prompting many residents to flee, while in Kirkuk two car bombs exploded and killed 11 people near a Shi'ite mosque holding displaced people, said security and medical sources.
The Isalmic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria to rule over all Muslims, poses the biggest challenge to the stability of Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
