The US has launched an air strike against militants from the Islamic State (IS) group in northern Iraq.
The Pentagon said its aircraft attacked artillery being used against Kurdish forces defending the city of Irbil.
The Sunni Muslim group IS, formerly known as Isis, now has control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes due to the militants’ advance. The US has also confirmed that IS has seized Iraq’s largest dam.
According to US officials, the dam is a vital part of Iraq’s infrastructure as it controls water levels on the Tigris River and is a key source of water and electricity generation for the Iraqi people.
According to the Pentagon statement, two F/A-18 aircraft from an aircraft carrier in the Gulf dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on mobile artillery near Irbil, where US personnel are based.
The air strike is the first time the US has been directly involved in a military operation in Iraq since American troops withdrew in late 2011.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the world needed to wake up to the threat posed by the IS group.
Its “campaign of terror against the innocent, including the Yazidi and Christian minorities, and its grotesque targeted acts of violence show all the warning signs of genocide,” he said.
IS fighters seized Qaraqosh, Iraq’s biggest Christian town, earlier this week, causing many thousands to flee.
’Carefully and responsibly’
Speaking from the White House on Thursday, President Obama said “America is coming to help” the people of Iraq.
He accused IS fighters of attempting the systematic destruction of entire populations.
At the same time, he announced that US military planes had already carried out air drops of food and water, at the request of the Iraqi government, to the many displaced Yazidis who are in need of supplies.
The United Nations says it is working on opening a humanitarian corridor in northern Iraq to allow stranded people to flee.
Marzio Babille, Unicef’s representative in Iraq, said the Yazidis were in an extremely precarious situation because of the “very aggressive and brutal” IS militants.
He said there were many “logistical and strategic difficulties”, but added that a humanitarian corridor needed to be established.
Meanwhile all US airlines and a growing list of other carriers are not flying over Iraq due to the situation.
Political pressure
Back in June, when Isis took over Mosul, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki requested US air strikes to halt the militants’ advance - but Washington did not intervene.
Analysts say the relentless advance of IS fighters, together with the continuing failure of Iraqi politicians to agree on a new government, after an inconclusive election in April, may have swayed Obama into deciding to act now. Mr Maliki has faced calls from Sunni Arab, Kurdish and some Shia Arab leaders to step down because of his handling of the crisis.
But as leader of the bloc that won the most seats in April’s parliamentary elections, Mr Maliki has demanded the right to attempt to form a governing coalition.
