Washington (BBN)-The US has conducted its second air-drop of food and water to thousands of Iraqis hiding in mountains from jihadist fighters, the Pentagon says.
It came hours after the US launched fresh air strikes against militants from the Islamic State (IS), reports BBC.
The group had recently made fresh gains in northern Iraq and is threatening the Kurdish city of Irbil.
The US is also piling pressure on Iraqi leaders to form a unity government capable of dealing with the jihadists.
Sunni Muslim group IS, formerly known as Isis, has taken control of swathes of Iraq and Syria and has also seized Iraq’s largest dam.
President Barack Obama hasn’t set a timetable for the current intervention and White House spokesman Josh Earnest said simply that the length of the campaign would be determined by events on the ground.
He said that, ultimately, a solution to the current violence rests with the formation of an Iraqi government that is representative of all the Iraqi people. Yet the course of this engagement is difficult to predict.
White House officials concede they are concerned about the Islamic State fighters’ proficiency – they are said to be well armed and well trained – hence it remains to be seen whether air strikes will be effective.
All of which raises the prospect of “mission creep” if the current campaign doesn’t halt their advance.
In a statement, the Pentagon said the latest air-drop involved one C-17 and two C-130 cargo planes that together dispersed a total of 72 bundles of supplies.
The cargo aircraft were escorted by two F/A-18s from the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush, it added.
The aid was dropped into the mountains around the town of Sinjar, where up to 50,000 members of the Yazidi religious sect fled an IS advance a week ago.
IS fighters also seized Qaraqosh, Iraq’s biggest Christian town this week, causing thousands more to flee.
The first US air strike on Friday saw two 500lb (227kg) bombs dropped on IS artillery being used against forces defending Irbil.
Late on Friday, the Pentagon confirmed a second wave of attacks.
It said drones and fighter jets attacked a mortar position and a seven-vehicle convoy carrying fighters also threatening Irbil.
IS remained defiant. One fighter told Reuters that the strikes would have “no impact on us”.
“The planes attack positions they think are strategic but this is not how we operate. We are trained for guerrilla street war,” he said.
The air strikes are the first time US forces have been directly involved in a military operation in Iraq since American troops withdrew in late 2011.
Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the US state department, said the immediate goal of the strikes was to “prevent the advance” of IS towards Irbil, where US personnel are based.
British government sources told the BBC the air strikes were entirely “a US operation” and the UK was currently focused on helping humanitarian efforts.
While future participation in air strikes had not be ruled out, it had not been discussed by the UK government’s emergency committee Cobra on Friday, and would not be over the weekend, the sources said.
Former US diplomat Peter Galbraith, who has worked as an adviser to the Kurdistan government, told the BBC the US air strikes would give the Kurds “a lot of confidence”.
“It also enables them to redeploy their forces,” he said. “They don’t have to concentrate so much to defend the capital.”
UNITY GOVERNMENT
Although the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Region have been at odds for months, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki sent a plane load of ammunition to Irbil on Friday, Reuters reported.
Maliki has previously ordered the air force to support Kurdish fighters in their fight against IS.
The White House said Vice-President Joe Biden had called Iraqi President Fuad Masum on Friday and emphasised the need for an Iraqi unity government that could diminish the threat posed by jihadists.
In June, Maliki rejected calls for a national salvation government to help counter the IS offensive.
He has faced calls from Sunni Arab, Kurdish and some Shia Arab leaders to step down because of his handling of the crisis.
However, as leader of the bloc that won the most seats in April’s parliamentary elections, he has demanded the right to attempt to form a governing coalition.
Iraq’s human rights ministry says the militants have seized hundreds of Yazidi women.
Ministry spokesman Kamil Amin said some were being held in schools in Iraq’s second largest city Mosul.
US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, after meeting members of the Yazidi community at the White House on Friday, said the US would continue to provide humanitarian support to those who are suffering.
BBN/SS-09Aug14-11:00am (BST)