*Ā Islamic StateĀ extends gains in north, at Kurdish border post
* Obama says humanitarian airlift seeks to prevent genocide
*Ā France, Pope urge international action to stop Islamists
* Residents flee biggest Christian town
* U.S. oil majors evacuate staff from Kurdish area
ByĀ Matt SpetalnickĀ andĀ Isabel Coles
WASHINGTON/ARBIL,Ā Iraq, Aug 7 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Thursday he had authorized limited U.S. airstrikes to blunt the onslaught of Islamic militants inĀ northernĀ IraqĀ 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 theĀ IraqĀ crisis – said he approved “targeted” use of air power to protect U.S. personnel ifĀ Islamic StateĀ 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 inĀ IraqĀ 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 theĀ United StatesĀ get dragged back into a war there.
Obama took action amid international fears of a humanitarian catastrophe engulfing tens of thousands of members ofĀ 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 theĀ 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 acrossĀ northernĀ 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 favour of embattled Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
Reuters photographs showed what appeared to beĀ Islamic StateĀ 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 theĀ Kurdish regional governmentĀ 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 theĀ Khazer checkpoint, and theĀ regional governmentĀ 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 inĀ Iraq, including our consulate in Arbil and our embassy inĀ Baghdad.” he said.
Obama sent in a small number of U.S. military advisers in June to help theĀ 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 onĀ Iraq‘s Shi’ite Prime MinisterĀ Nuri al-MalikiĀ to form a more inclusive government to help defuse the crisis.
Washington’s calculus appeared to shift afterĀ Islamic State, which routed theĀ Iraqi militaryĀ 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 inĀ IraqĀ came after urgent deliberations by a president who won the White House in 2008 on a pledge to disentangle theĀ United StatesĀ 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.
TheĀ Islamic State’s Sunni militants have swept acrossĀ northwesternĀ IraqĀ in recent weeks. TheĀ Islamic Stateviews as infidelsĀ Iraq‘s majority Shi’ites and minorities such as Christians and Yazidis, a Kurdish ethno-religious community.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Missy Ryan and Mark Felsenthal in Washington, Tom Miles in Geneva and James Mackenzie in Rome; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Paul Taylor, Janet McBride, Will Waterman, David Stamp, Jonathan Oatis, Howard Goller and Ken Wills)
