Obama Approves Targeted Airstrikes on Islamic State in Iraq

At the Wall Street Journal, "Barack Obama Approves Airstrikes on Iraq, Airdrops Aid: Bid to Protect Refugees Fleeing Extremists: Bid to Protect Refugees Fleeing Extremists":

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.
The U.S. military said it completed a delivery of meals and water to thousands of members of a religious minority who fled the town of Sinjar and are trapped in nearby mountains by the group calling itself the Islamic State.

Mr. Obama said he ordered the use of U.S. airstrikes if necessary either to stop militants from closing in on the northern city of Erbil or to allow local forces to aid the Yazidis, the religious minority. No U.S. strikes had been conducted by late Thursday, officials said.

His remarks at the White House capped a day of soaring concern about militant advances in Iraq, where extremist fighters seized control of areas long considered safe and took over the Mosul Dam, the country's largest, according to local reports.

But Mr. Obama also acknowledged domestic jitters about renewed military involvement in Iraq, where America fought an eight-year war.

"American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq because there is no American military solution to the crisis in Iraq," he said, emphasizing the word "American."

"The only lasting solution is reconciliation among Iraqi communities and stronger Iraqi security forces," he said. Separately, Secretary of State John Kerry in a statement stressed the U.S. view that Iraq can only regain stability through the formation of a new, more inclusive government.

The sudden acceleration of U.S. military activity reflected White House concern over a burgeoning crisis in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of Iraq. An Iraqi military official said the Iraqi air force conducted its own airstrikes in the area Thursday.

The White House and Pentagon previously have said they reserve the right to use force in Iraq to protect Americans, and repeated that stance Thursday. The U.S. troops in Erbil are part of a force of planners and advisers working in joint U.S.-Iraqi centers.

Washington has held off on any direct military involvement as the Obama administration pressures Iraqi lawmakers to form a new government.

"We are sending a clear message to the Iraqi government," said a U.S. official...

Also at the New York Times, "American Forces Said to Bomb ISIS Targets in Iraq."