Islamic Militants Destroy Churches, Force 200K People to Flee Homes As US Announces Iraq Airstrike

The Islamic State jihadist group has reportedly destroyed churches and forced 200,000 people to flee their homes in northern Iraq overnight, just as the Pentagon announced it had carried out an airstrike on an artillery convoy belonging to the militant group.

Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako told the AFP that militants attacking northern cities near Sinjar Mountain reportedly burned Christian churches and religious manuscripts, forcing 200,000 people to flee their homes on Thursday night.

"[The Christians] have fled with nothing but their clothes, some of them on foot, to reach the Kurdistan region," Patriarch Sako told AFP. "This is a humanitarian disaster. The churches are occupied, their crosses were taken down."

The Pentagon announced Friday that it had carried out an airstrike on Islamic State militants in Iraq, reportedly dropping multiple bombs on an artillery convoy.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters Friday that two F/A-18 jets had been deployed from the USS George HW Bush stationed in the Persian Gulf. The jets successfully dropped multiple 500-pound bombs on an artillery convoy of the Islamic State militants, and it remains unclear how many militants were killed as a result of the airstrike.

President Barack Obama announced Thursday evening that the U.S. would be providing limited aid to the government of Iraq and Kurdish forces to combat the Islamic State. Along with the airstrike, U.S. military planes air-dropped provisions to thousands of religious minorities stranded on a mountaintop in northern Iraq, after they were forced to flee their hometowns by Islamic State militants.

"Earlier this week, one Iraqi in the area cried to the world, 'There is no one coming to help.' Well, today, America is coming to help," Obama said. "We're also consulting with other countries — and the United Nations — who have called for action to address this humanitarian crisis."

The president added that he believes the U.S. and the United Nations "can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide."

Obama reassured Americans that this limited aid to Iraq does not mean the U.S. will become involved longterm military action with the Middle Eastern country. The U.S. previously removed its military personnel from Iraq in December 2011.

"As commander in chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq," Obama said.