US President Barack Obama speaks about Iraq, at the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Aug. 7, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Larry Downing)
US airstrikes alone will not defeat IS
The United States has finally decided that Iraq's security and humanitarian situations require immediate military intervention. US President Barack Obama's Aug. 7 speech consolidated this decision and spelled out the US mission on two levels: implementation of "limited" military aerial operations, and a humanitarian intervention to save Iraq from the ethnic cleansing of its minorities.
Summary⎙ Print The US militarily intervention in Iraq will be limited, according to President Barack Obama.
Author Mushreq AbbasPosted August 8, 2014
Translator(s)Steffi Chakti
The US intervention, however, conveys different messages on timing and goals. When it comes to timing, the United States exerted serious pressure on all Iraqi parties to reach a settlement over the formation of an Iraqi consensus government. Iraqis themselves would have to liberate their land, but not before unanimously agreeing upon the clear foundations of the Iraqi state.
Secretary of State John Kerry elaborated on this idea in an Aug. 7 statement, where he stressed the need for Iraqi politicians to agree on an inclusive and consensus governmental formula.
Before its limited military intervention, the United States waited for Iraqi parties to get past their attempts to politically benefit from the security collapse and to reach a foregone conclusion: There is no chance whatsoever for a monopoly on power in Iraq on the part of any sect, party or individual. Some decisions that could be made amid crises and collapses, such as a coup d’état or neutrality, would only usher in greater collapses.
Iraq’s crises and challenges, bolstered by the unprecedented entrenchment and expansion of the Islamic State (IS), could constitute an ideal portal for the region to realize the brittleness of borders. All countries are in danger. Such a realization could open the door for a regional repositioning and make countries more cautious when employing dogmas and sectarian affiliations in open wars.
Countries that intersect politically, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey, feel they are facing a genuine threat to their internal security. Time may force countries to adopt a more realistic vision on the poles of conflict in the Middle East.
Military intervention has become a demand of different Iraqi parties and the government, placing the current US decision in circumstances that differ from 2003. The US decision comes in tandem with the demand of the UN Security Council to help Iraq in its war against IS.
The US announcement was preceded by leaks about airstrikes that would be carried out against IS in northern Iraq, where the organization has been battling the Kurdish peshmerga. The United States had denied these leaks, yet Obama affirmed during his speech that aid would be delivered to the displaced population stranded on Mount Sinjar.
Consistent throughout these developments is the idea that the war against IS should be an Iraqi decision before being a US or international decision. This war requires producing Iraqi agreements to end the rupture between Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites. These agreements should drain the blood-pumping resources of terrorism.
Such an agreement will not take place without the Iraqi political circle adopting courageous measures to allow the expansion of the cabinet representation base, the imposition of state sovereignty and the formation of a more resilient Iraqi army. These measures will not be implemented anytime soon, which prompts additional questions about the limits of the US military intervention, and how it will aid the powers on the ground that are fighting IS.
The defeat of IS — and the time required to do so — depends on the ability of Iraqis to settle their disputes. Throwing IS outside the border will take more than a couple of days, especially if the US decision to intervene turns out to be a departure from an internal consensus and if these airstrikes are unable to alter the balance of military power against IS.
What’s more, the war on IS in Iraq will not be decisive given the organization’s control over large swaths of Syria, and its comprehensive war against the Syrian regime and the opposing armed groups.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/08/us-military-intervention-iraq.html#ixzz39unp0vy4
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Abdul Mehdi al-Karbala'i delivers the text of a sermon by Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, during Friday prayers in Karbala, Aug. 8, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed)
Feeling heat, Maliki warns Sistani against opposing third term
On July 25, the official website of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani posted an article reporting that Sistani has called on Iraqi officials not to cling to their positions, alluding to the insistence of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on seeking a third term. Official spokespeople for Sistani have previously criticized the performance of the Iraqi government, as well as the stances of Maliki himself; this, however, is the first time that Sistani has directly demanded Maliki withdraw his candidacy.
Summary⎙ Print Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani hinted at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s intention to seek a third term, saying that Iraqi officials should not cling to their positions in power.
Author Ali MamouriPosted August 8, 2014
Translator(s)Steffi Chakti
The article came in response to the stance of Sayyid Mahmoud Shahroudi — a prominent religious figure known for his close ties with Iran’s leadership and the Maliki-led Dawa Party — in support of Maliki. The website also noted the support of other Shiite religious authorities in Qom and Najaf for Sistani's position.
In another development, Sayyid Jafaar al-Sadr, the son of the the Dawa Party founder, called on all of Dawa's leading members to end their support for Maliki, since the latter is the main obstacle to settling disputes and forming a new government.
In the same context, the Badr and independent blocs belonging to Maliki’s State of Law Coalition announced they would split from the coalition if Maliki insisted on a third term. This means the coalition would lose the majority of votes within the National Iraqi Alliance, from which the prime minister should be chosen.
Maliki sent a warning text message to the office of Sistani. Al-Monitor learned the content of the message, which reads: “It is with great dissatisfaction that I received the hint that your official delivered during the Friday sermon in Karbala about officials not clinging to their posts. The majority of Shiites and the enemies of the political process figured that I was the one concerned. This is why I ask you, as prime minister who was elected for two terms, as the leader of the largest coalition, and as the [politician] who won the highest number of votes in the third session, to clarify your stance and end your involvement in the political process and the choosing of the prime minister. [I ask you] to limit your role to the provision of religious and moral guidance to your followers and leave politics to politicians. Iraq is going through a delicate phase in its political and security history and I cannot, amid these circumstances, give up on my national duty to protect the unity of Iraq and its people and defend the rights of those who voted for me.”
The Iraqi political system is parliamentary, not presidential, and candidates' number of votes do not influence their nomination for governmental positions. They are strictly chosen through the votes of the members of parliament. The State of Law Coalition joined the National Alliance during the first parliamentary session, which makes the alliance the largest coalition and the one to name the prime minister. This alliance will be threatened with division if Maliki insists on running for a third term.
This came in tandem with news that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on Maliki to step down, in clear support for Sistani’s position. These rapid developments angered Maliki, who felt the developments were quickly mounting against his wish for a third term.
Maliki expressed his anger on Aug. 6 during his weekly speech, when he warned against outside attempts to intervene in the naming of the next prime minister. He said these attempts violate the political and constitutional process, threatening that all hell would break loose if an attempt was made to unconstitutionally name a prime minister.
Clearly, this speech is Maliki’s last attempt to instill fear among his rivals related to his stepping down. This speech is, however, a far cry from being a real threat. Maliki has no political or security power to allow him to hold on to his post if Sistani and Iran explicitly oppose his candidacy.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/08/sistani-warns-maliki-third-term-iraq-elections.html#ixzz39v3BXKN3
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U.S. starts aid airdrops in Iraq but no strikes yet
Fri, Aug 08 06:25 AM EDT
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By Raheem Salman and Matt Spetalnick
BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.
President Barack Obama said he had authorized limited bombing to prevent "genocide" and blunt the onslaught of Sunni radicals who have captured swathes of northern Iraq and advanced to a half hour drive from the Kurdish regional capital, Arbil.
It was the first time since the Islamists - an offshoot of al-Qaeda - began a lightning offensive in June, overrunning swathes of northern and western Iraq and declaring a "caliphate" in captured areas of Iraq and Syria, that the United States has opted for military action.
Deeply reluctant to engage U.S. forces in the Middle East again after costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama said he had approved a "targeted" use of air power to protect U.S. personnel if Islamic State militants advance further towards Arbil, seat of the Kurdistan regional government.
He made a late-night television address after the first U.S. transport planes dropped food and water to members of the Yazidi ethno-religious minority sheltering in hostile mountain terrain after the Islamists captured their home town of Sinjar.
Reuters photographs on Thursday showed the insurgents had raised their black flag over a checkpoint just 45 km (28 miles) from Arbil, bringing them closer than ever to the city of 1.5 million which is also the region's economic capital.
The Islamists' advance and the threat of U.S. military action sent shares and the dollar tumbling on world financial markets, as investors moved to safe haven assets such as gold and German government bonds.
U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil and Chevron operating in Iraqi Kurdistan evacuated expatriate staff on Thursday, industry sources said, and the shares of several oil companies operating in the region fell for a second day on Friday.
However, a spokesman for Austria's OMV energy company, which has worked in the region since 2008, said the Islamists' advance was having no impact on its operations.
"Everything for us is under control," he said.
"AMERICA IS COMING TO HELP"
Obama said air strikes, which would be the first by the U.S. military in Iraq since its withdrawal in 2011, could also be used to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces trying to break the Islamists' siege of Sinjar mountain, where tens of thousands of Yazidis have taken refuge.
"Earlier this week, one Iraqi in the area cried to the world, 'There is no one coming to help'," said Obama. "Well, today America is coming to help."
Yazidis, ethnic Kurds who practice an ancient faith related to Zoroastrianism, are among a handful of pre-Islamic minority groups who survived for centuries in northern Iraq. They are believed to number in the hundreds of thousands, most living in Iraq, with small communities in the Caucasus and Europe.
"We can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide," said Obama, calling the militants "barbaric."
U.S. officials also announced an acceleration of military supplies to the Kurdish regional government, whose peshmerga forces have been routed by the Islamists as they seized control of a dozen towns and the country's biggest dam in the last week.
Obama insisted he would not commit ground forces and had no intention of letting the United States "get dragged into fighting another war in Iraq".
The U.S. Defense Department said planes dropped 72 bundles of supplies, including 8,000 ready-to-eat meals and thousands of gallons of drinking water, for threatened civilians near Sinjar.
Northern Iraq has long been one of the most diverse parts of the Middle East, home to isolated ethnic and religious minorities who survived centuries of pressure to assimilate into the Arabic-speaking Muslim world.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians have also fled for their lives after Islamic State fighters overran their hometown of Qaraqosh on Thursday.
In Baghdad, Yazidi lawmaker Mahma Khalil told Reuters up to 250,000 Yazidis had fled the Islamists and were in desperate need of life-saving assistance.
"We hear through the media there is American help, but nothing on ground," said Khalil, who is in touch with Yazidis on Sinjar mountain. Relief supplies that had reached the area so far were woefully insufficient, he said.
"Please save us! SOS! save us!" he said several times. "Our people are in the desert. They are exposed to a genocide."
Yazidis are regarded by the Islamic State as "devil worshippers" and risk being executed by militants seeking to establish an Islamic empire and redraw the Middle East map. A United Nations humanitarian spokesman said some 200,000 people fleeing the Islamists' advance had reached the town of Dohuk on the Tigris River, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and nearby areas of Niniveh province.
Tens of thousands have fled further north to the Turkish border, Turkish officials said.
DOUBTS
Questions were quickly raised in Washington about whether selective U.S. attacks on militant positions and humanitarian airdrops would be enough to shift the balance on the battlefield against the Islamist forces.
"I completely support humanitarian aid as well as the use of air power," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted after Obama's announcement. "However the actions announced tonight will not turn the tide of battle."
The Kurdish regional government insisted on Thursday its forces were advancing and would "defeat the terrorists," urging people to stay calm. Local authorities cut off social media in what one official said was an attempt to stop rumors spreading and prevent panic.
The mood in Arbil on Friday was calm but apprehensive. One resident said some residents had returned home after initially leaving the regional capital in fear of the Islamists' advance.
"Two days ago there was fear but now it's better," said Omaid, a 37-year-old dentist on his way to the market. "Two days ago, people left the city if they had homes in the villages and went there. Now people's state of mind has improved and those who left have returned."
Residents were stockpiling food and weapons, he said.
Faced with deep Congressional and public reluctance, Obama backed away from using air power against President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria last year after chemical weapons were used. Assad has since regained the upper hand against divided opposition forces in a three-year-old civil war.
However, the president said preventing a humanitarian catastrophe and averting a threat to American lives and interests in Iraqi Kurdistan were ample justification for the use of U.S. military force in Iraq.
Seeking to keep some pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Obama insisted on the need for an Iraqi government that "represents the legitimate interests of all Iraqis" to reverse the militants' momentum.
Maliki is a member of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, and Sunnis, Kurds and some fellow Shi'ites accuse him of running a sectarian government, causing resentment that fed the Sunni insurgency. He is negotiating to hold onto power for a third term after an inconclusive election in April, although Sunnis, Kurds and some Shi'ite leaders have demanded he step aside.
Neighboring Iran, which along with Washington had backed Maliki, is working diplomatically to try to find a less polarizing figure who can united Iraq's sectarian factions. Tehran has also sent elite Revolutionary Guard officers to help organize the defense of Baghdad, Iranian sources say.
Obama sent a small number of U.S. military advisers in June in an effort to help the Iraqi government’s efforts to fend off the Islamist offensive.
The Islamists' latest gains sparked an international outcry.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply appalled" by the attacks by Islamic State militants. The U.N. Security Council condemned the group and called on the international community to support the Iraqi government.
French President Francois Hollande's office said after he spoke by telephone with Kurdistan president Masoud Barzani that Paris was prepared to support forces engaged in the defense of Iraqi Kurdistan. A French official said the assistance would be "technical" rather than military.
The Islamic State poses the biggest threat to Iraq's integrity since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Its fighters have proudly posted videos on the Internet of themselves massacring prisoners as they advance.
Shi'ite militia which have rallied to protect Baghdad have also been accused by rights groups of kidnappings and killings. With thousands of people killed and hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes, the past two months have brought back violence unseen in Iraq since the worst few months of its 2006-2007 sectarian civil war under U.S. occupation.
The Islamic State's gains have prompted Maliki to order his air force to help the Kurds, whose reputation as fearsome warriors has been eroded by the past week's defeats.
(Additional reporting from Isabel Coles in Arbil and Michael Georgy in Baghdad, Michael Shields in Vienna; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Peter Graff)
Fri, Aug 08 01:49 AM EDT
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By Matt Spetalnick and Isabel Coles
WASHINGTON/ARBIL Iraq (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday he had authorized U.S. air strikes to blunt the onslaught of Islamist militants in northern Iraq and began airdrops of supplies to besieged religious minorities to prevent a "potential act of genocide."
Obama, in his most significant response yet to the crisis, said he approved "targeted" use of air power to protect U.S. personnel if Islamic State militants advance further toward Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, or threaten Americans anywhere in the country.
He said air strikes, which would be the first carried out by the U.S. military in Iraq since its withdrawal in 2011, could also be used if necessary in support of Iraqi and Kurdish forces trying to break the Islamists' siege of a mountaintop where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped.
"Earlier this week, one Iraqi in the area cried to the world, 'There is no one coming to help'," said Obama, who had been reluctant to deepen U.S. military re-engagement in Iraq.
"Well, today America is coming to help."
In late-night remarks televised from the White House to a war-weary American public, Obama insisted he would not commit ground forces and had no intention of letting the United States "get dragged into fighting another war in Iraq."
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," said Obama, who described the militants as "barbaric."
Obama was responding to urgent appeals from Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to help halt Islamic State's relentless advance across northern Iraq and to deal with the unfolding humanitarian crisis.
However, questions were quickly raised in Washington about whether selective U.S. attacks on militant positions and humanitarian airdrops would be enough to shift the balance on the battlefield against the Islamist forces.
"I completely support humanitarian aid as well as the use of air power," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted after Obama's announcement. "However the actions announced tonight will not turn the tide of battle."
BLACK FLAG OVER CHECKPOINT
The reason for U.S. alarm was clear.
Reuters photographs on Thursday showed what appeared to be Islamic State fighters controlling a checkpoint at the border area of the Kurdistan, 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. The regional government said its forces were advancing and would "defeat the terrorists," urging people to stay calm.
Obama, who has carefully avoided direct involvement in most other recent Middle Eastern crises, made clear that preventing a humanitarian catastrophe and averting the threat to American lives and interests in Kurdistan were ample justification for the use of U.S. military power.
However, seeking to keep some pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Obama insisted on the need for an Iraqi government that "represents the legitimate interests of all Iraqis" in order to reverse the militants' momentum.
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.
"When we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then I believe the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye," Obama said.
The Defense Department said U.S. planes dropped 72 bundles of supplies, including 8,000 ready-to-eat meals and thousands of gallons of drinking water for threatened civilians near Sinjar.
It said the planes flew from several air bases in the region and included one C-17 and two C-130 transport planes escorted by two F/A-18 Hornet fighter planes. They were over the drop area for less than 15 minutes, flying at low altitude.
"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," Obama said.
He sent in a small number of U.S. military advisers in June to help the Iraqi government’s efforts to fend off the Islamist militant offensive but he was reluctant to take direct military action. He had put the onus on Maliki, a Shi'ite Muslim, 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.
The decision on air strikes 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 Iraq war.
Until this week, most of Kurdistan had been protected by its own armed forces, called the peshmerga. 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 Muslim 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.
Sunni militants captured Iraq's biggest Christian town, Qaraqosh, prompting many residents to flee in fear that they would be subjected to the same demands they made in other captured areas: leave, convert to Islam or face death.
INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply appalled" by the attacks by Islamic State militants. The U.N. Security Council condemned the group and called on the international community to support the Iraqi government.
French President Francois Hollande's office said after he spoke by telephone with Kurdistan president Masoud Barzani that Paris was prepared to support forces engaged in the defense of Iraqi Kurdistan. It did not say how.
A senior U.S. official said Washington was expediting military assistance to Kurdish peshmerga troops.
Shares in energy companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan plummeted on news of the sweeping Islamist advance toward oilfields in the region.
The militants inflicted a humiliating defeat on Kurdish forces in the weekend sweep, prompting tens of thousands of Yazidis to flee. A Kurdish government security adviser said its forces had staged a tactical withdrawal.
The Kurdish Regional Government's Ministry of Interior said in a statement that "our victory is close."
Some of the many thousands trapped on Sinjar mountain have been rescued in the past 24 hours, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, adding that 200,000 had fled the fighting.
Many of the displaced urgently need water, food, shelter and medicine, he said before the U.S. airdrops began. A spokesman for the U.N. agency for children said many on the mountain were suffering from dehydration and at least 40 children had died.
Yazidis are regarded by the Islamic State as "devil worshippers" and risk being executed by militants seeking to establish an Islamic empire and redraw the Middle East map.
The plight of fleeing Christians prompted Pope Francis to appeal to world leaders to help end what the Vatican called "the humanitarian tragedy now under way" in northern Iraq.
The Islamic State poses the biggest threat to Iraq's integrity since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Its fighters and their Sunni allies also control a big chunk of western Iraq.
The group has deepened sectarian tensions, pushing Iraq back to the dark days of the civil war that peaked in 2006-2007 under U.S.-led occupation.
The Islamic State's gains have prompted Maliki to order his air force to help the Kurds, whose reputation as fearsome warriors was called into question by their defeat.
Critics blame Maliki for Iraq's crisis, accusing him of promoting the interests of fellow Shi'ites at the expense of Sunnis. Heavily armed Sunni tribes support the Islamic State, although they do not share its ideology.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Missy Ryan and Mark Felsenthal in WASHINGTON, Tom Miles in GENEVA and; James Mackenzie in ROME; Writing by Matt Spetalnick and Michael Georgy; Editing by Paul Tait)
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Obama says tackling Iraq's insurgency will take time
Sat, Aug 09 16:32 PM EDT
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By Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Saturday U.S. airstrikes
had destroyed arms that Islamic State militants could have used against Iraqi Kurds, but warned there was no quick fix to a crisis that threatens to tear Iraq apart. Speaking the day after U.S. warplanes hit militants in Iraq, Obama said it would take more than bombs to restore stability, and criticised Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government for failing to empower Sunnis. "I don't think we're going to solve this problem in weeks. This is going to take some time," Obama told a news conference in Washington.Islamic State has captured wide swathes of northern Iraq since June, executing non-Sunni Muslim captives, displacing tens of thousands of people and drawing the first U.S. air strikes in the region since Washington withdrew troops in 2011. After routing Kurdish forces this week, the militants are just 30 minutes' drive from Arbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, which up to now has been spared the sectarian bloodshed that has scarred other parts of Iraq for a decade. The U.S. president said Washington would continue to provide military assistance and advice to Baghdad and Kurdish forces, but stressed repeatedly the importance of Iraq, which is a major oil exporter, forming its own inclusive government. Maliki has been widely criticised for authoritarian and sectarian policies that have alienated Sunnis and prompted some to support the insurgency.
"I think this a wake-up call for a lot of Iraqis inside of Baghdad recognizing that we're going to have to rethink how we do business if we're going to hold our country together," Obama said, before departing on a two-week vacation.Employees of foreign oil firms have been leaving Arbil, and Kurds have snapped up AK-47 assault rifles in arms markets for fear of imminent attack, although these have proved ineffective against the superior firepower of the Islamic State fighters. Given the Islamic State threat, a source in the Kurdistan Regional Government said it had received extra supplies of heavy weaponry from the Baghdad federal government "and other governments" in the past few days, but declined to elaborate. In their latest advance through northern Iraq, the Islamic State seized a fifth oil field, several towns and Iraq's biggest dam, sending tens of thousands fleeing for their lives. An engineer at the Mosul dam told Reuters that Islamic State fighters had brought in engineers to repair an emergency power line to the city, Iraq's biggest in the north, that had been cut off four days ago, causing power outages and water shortages. "They are gathering people to work at the dam," he said. A dam administrator said militants were putting up the trademark Islamic State black flags and patrolling with flatbed trucks mounted with machineguns to protect the facility they seized from Kurdish forces earlier this week. RELIEF SUPPLIES The Islamic State, comprised mainly of Arabs and foreign fighters who want to reshape the map of the Middle East, pose the biggest threat to Iraq since Saddam Hussein was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The Sunni militants, who have beheaded and crucified captives in their drive to eradicate unbelievers, first arrived in northern Iraq in June from Syria where they have captured wide tracts of territory in that country's civil war. Almost unopposed by U.S.-trained Iraqi government forces who fled by the thousands, the insurgents swept through the region and have threatened to march on Baghdad with Iraqi military tanks, armoured personnel carriers and machineguns they seized. The U.S. Defense Department said two F/A-18 warplanes from an aircraft carrier in the Gulf had dropped laser-guided 500-pound bombs on Islamic State artillery batteries. Other air strikes targeted mortar positions and an Islamic State convoy. Obama has said this was needed to halt the Islamist advance, protect Americans in the region as well as hundreds of thousands of Christians and members of other religious minorities at risk. U.S. military aircraft dropped relief supplies to members of the ancient Yazidi sect, tens of thousands of whom have collected on a desert mountaintop seeking shelter from insurgents who had ordered them to convert to Islam or die. Highlighting their predicament, more than 300 Yazidi families in the villages of Koja, Hatimiya and Qaboshi have been threatened by death unless they change religion, witnesses and a Yazidi lawmaker told Reuters on Saturday. Following the U.S. example, Britain and France also pledged on Saturday to deliver humanitarian supplies to people trapped by the militant advance. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said London was especially concerned by the fate of Yazidis who are cornered in their ancient homeland of Sinjar in mountainous northern Iraq. "We are more widely looking at how to support this group of people and get them off that mountain," he told the BBC. The Islamic State's campaign has returned Iraq to levels of violence not seen since a civil war peaked in 2006-2007 during the U.S. occupation. The territorial gains of Islamic State, who also control a third of Syria and have fought this past week inside Lebanon, has unnerved the Middle East and threatens to shatter Iraq, a country split between mostly Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds. The semi-autonomous Kurdish region has until now been the only part of Iraq to survive the past decade of civil war without a serious security threat. Its vaunted "peshmerga" fighters - those who "confront death" - also controlled wide stretches of territory outside the autonomous zone, which served as sanctuary for fleeing Christians and other minorities when Islamic State fighters stormed into the region last month. But the past week saw the peshmerga crumble in the face of Islamic State fighters, who have heavy weapons seized from fleeing Iraqi troops and are flush with cash looted from banks. (Editing by Mark Heinrich and Crispian Balmer) ===============================================
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