U.S. missiles have hit a mobile ISIS artillery unit, Fox News is reporting.
Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby tweeted that the action was taken against IS forces firing at Kurdish forces defending the town of Erbil, not far from where U.S. personnel have been conducting operations.
US military aircraft conduct strike on ISIL artillery. Artillery was used against Kurdish forces defending Erbil, near US personnel.
— Rear Adm. John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) August 8, 2014
In what the Pentagon is calling a “targeted” airstrike, two 500-pound, laser-guided bombs were dropped on the unit. The move comes just hours after President Barack Obama authorized airstrikes against the terrorist group (see this Inquisitr article). The strike occurred at 6:45 am Eastern time, or 1:45 pm local time in Iraq.
The targets of the airstrikes are an Islamist terrorist organization once known as ISIS, or “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and now known simply as IS, or “Islamic State.” The group has recently seized the Christian city of Qaraqoush and forced residents to either convert, flee, or be killed. The terrorist organization is said to be well-financed, and is unparalleled in its brutality; videos of the organization committing gruesome acts of torture and murder have hit the internet in recent weeks.
The airstrikes were also accompanied by a drop of humanitarian aid. Tens of thousands of refugees have been trapped in the Sinjar Mountain region, surrounded on all sides by IS militants, without food, water, or medical supplies. President Barack Obama said, according to Fox News :
“They’re without food, they’re without water. People are starving, and children are dying of thirst.”
Pentagon officials said that cargo planes dropped 72 crates of supplies, including food and water.
This is a breaking news story; more information will be provided as the story develops.
Are airstrikes the appropriate response to the ISIS situation? Let us know what you think in the Comments.
