Iraqi security forces backed by Shi’ite militias yesterday on Sunday broke the two-month siege of Amerli by Islamic State militants and entered the northern town, officials said.
The mayor of Amerli and army officers said troops backed by militias defeated fighters from the Islamic State (IS) to the east of the town. Fighting continued to the north of Amerli.
“Security forces and militia fighters are inside Amerli now after breaking the siege and that will definitely relieve the suffering of residents,” said Adel al-Bayati, mayor of Amerli.
“I can see the tanks of the Iraqi army patrolling Amerli’s street now. I’m very happy we got rid of the Islamic State terrorists who were threatening to slaughter us,” said Amir Ismael, an Amerli resident, by phone.
The advance of the Iraqi forces comes after the US military carried out air strikes overnight on IS militant positions near the town and airdropped humanitarian supplies to the trapped residents there, Reuters reported.
President Barack Obama had authorized the new military action, broadening US operations in Iraq amid an international outcry over the threat to Amerli’s mostly ethnic Turkmen population.
US aircraft delivered over a hundred bundles of emergency supplies and more aid was dropped from British, French and Australian planes, officials said, signaling headway in Obama’s efforts to draw allies into the fight against Islamic State.
On Saturday, Iraqi army and Kurdish forces closed in on Islamic State fighters in a push to break the Sunni militants’ siege of Amerli, which has been surrounded by the militants for more than two months.
Armed residents of Amerli have managed to fend off attacks by Islamic State fighters, who regard the town’s majority Shi’ite Turkmen population as apostates. More than 15,000 people remain trapped inside.
“At the request of the government of Iraq, the United States military today airdropped humanitarian aid to the town of Amerli, home to thousands of Shia Turkmen who have been cut off from receiving food, water, and medical supplies for two months by ISIL,” Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said, using an alternative name for Islamic State.
“In conjunction with this airdrop, US aircraft conducted coordinated air strikes against nearby ISIL terrorists in order to support this humanitarian assistance operation,” he said, adding that a key objective was to prevent a militant attack on civilians in the town.
Warplanes hit three Humvee patrol vehicles, a tank and an armed vehicle held by militants in addition to a checkpoint controlled by the group, according to the military’s Central Command, which runs US operations in the Middle East. “All aircraft safely exited the area,” it said in a statement.
When Obama ordered the first air strikes and air drops in Iraq earlier this month, he justified the military operation in part to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe for thousands of ethnic Yazidis trapped by Islamic State militants on Sinjar mountain in northern Iraq.