U.S. Conducts First Offensive Airstrikes In Iraq
The U.S. began its strategy to combat the Islamic State this week by airstriking parts of Iraq where the Islamic militants were attacking the country's security forces.
The U.S. sent fighter jets to conduct the airstrike after Iraqi security forces requested aid. According to USA Today, the U.S. Central Command has confirmed that both fighter and attack aircraft have been sent to the Middle Eastern country to conduct airstrikes in the past two days. One airstrike took place southwest of Baghdad and another near the city of Sinjar.
The airstrikes on Sunday and Monday successfully destroyed a convoy of six vehicles as well as multiple extremists who were attacking security forces, the U.S. Central Command confirmed in a statement.
"The airstrike southwest of Baghdad was the first strike taken as part of our expanded efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions to hit ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense, as outlined in the President's speech last Wednesday,'' the U.S. Central Command's statement added.
This is the first offensive attack on the Islamic State carried out by the U.S. Previous airstrikes and air drops have been conducted to either protect U.S. personnel on the ground or serve as humanitarian aid to Iraqi refugees.
President Obama announced last week that the U.S. would be carrying out a "steady and relentless" strategy against the Islamic State that would "degrade and ultimately destroy" the terrorist organization that recently beheaded two American journalists in Syria.
On Tuesday during a Senate Armed Forces committee meeting, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested the possibility that the U.S. could put American troops on the ground in Iraq to combat the Islamic State, although such a notion has been dismissed by President Obama.
