US President Barack Obama on Thursday night authorised air strikes to halt the advance in Iraq of Islamic militants, as the US launched humanitarian air drops to thousands of stranded members of an ethnic minority in the north of the country who have fled their homes.
Mr Obama said the US had a “unique capability to avert” a potential massacre of a religious minority in nothern Iraq.
The Pentagon is also examining whether a relief mission of food and medicine would require air strikes against forces from the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (known as Isis), whose military offensive in northern Iraq continues to gather momentum.
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