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US Launches Second Air Assault Against Islamic Militants in Northern Iraq

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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">U.S. Warplanes Strike Militants in Iraq</span></span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="byline" itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/alissa_johannsen_rubin/index.html" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="font-weight: 700;">By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/alissa_johannsen_rubin/index.html" rel="author" style="text-decoration: none;" title="More Articles by ALISSA J. RUBIN"><span class="byline-author" data-byline-name="ALISSA J. RUBIN" itemprop="name">ALISSA J. RUBIN</span></a>, </span><span class="byline" itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/tim_arango/index.html" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/tim_arango/index.html" rel="author" style="text-decoration: none;" title="More Articles by TIM ARANGO"><span class="byline-author" data-byline-name="TIM ARANGO" data-twitter-handle="tarangoNYT" itemprop="name">TIM ARANGO</span></a> and </span><span class="byline" itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/helene_cooper/index.html" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="font-weight: 700;"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/helene_cooper/index.html" rel="author" style="text-decoration: none;" title="More Articles by HELENE COOPER">HELENE COOPER</a></span><time class="dateline" datetime="2014-08-08" style="margin-left: 12px;">AUG. 8, 2014</time></span></div>
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<img alt="" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="The aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush, in the Arabian Gulf on Friday, has been assigned to support the mission in Iraq." data-mediaviewer-credit="Joshua Card/U.S. Navy, via European Pressphoto Agency" data-mediaviewer-src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/08/09/world/09iraq2-1407514349943/09iraq2-1407514349943-superJumbo.jpg" itemid="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/08/09/world/09iraq2-1407514349943/09iraq2-1407514349943-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/08/09/world/09iraq2-1407514349943/09iraq2-1407514349943-master675.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 540px;" /><div class="media-action-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.2s ease-in; border-bottom-left-radius: 6px; border-bottom-right-radius: 6px; border-top-left-radius: 6px; border-top-right-radius: 6px; border: 1px solid rgba(200, 200, 200, 0.8); bottom: 15px; cursor: pointer; left: 15px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.2s ease-in; z-index: 5; zoom: 1;">
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<figcaption class="caption" itemprop="caption description" style="bottom: 23px; position: static; right: 0px; width: auto;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="caption-text">The aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush, in the Arabian Gulf on Friday, has been assigned to support the mission in Iraq.</span> <span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="display: inline-block;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Credit</span>Joshua Card/U.S. Navy, via European Pressphoto Agency</span></span></figcaption></figure></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">DOHUK, Iraq — The United States on Friday afternoon launched a second round of airstrikes on Sunni militants in northern Iraq, sending four Navy fighter jets to strike eight targets around Erbil, according to Pentagon officials.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Military officials said they believed that the second round of attacks resulted in a number of casualties among the militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The Navy fighters launched from the aircraft carrier George H. W. Bush, which has been deployed in the Arabian Sea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">RELATED COVERAGE</span></span></h2>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.75em;"><article class="story theme-summary"><a class="story-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/obama-weighs-military-strikes-to-aid-trapped-iraqis-officials-say.html" style="display: block; text-decoration: none;"><div class="thumb" style="clear: none; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; max-width: 65px; position: relative; width: 65px;">
<img alt="“I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq,” President Obama said Thursday night." src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/08/08/world/08prexy10/08prexy10-thumbStandard.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" /><div class="media-action-overlay" style="bottom: 8%; left: 8%; position: absolute;">
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="story-heading-text" style="padding-right: 0.75em;">Obama Allows Limited Airstrikes on ISIS</span><time class="dateline" datetime="2014-08-07" style="display: inline-block;">AUG. 7, 2014</time></span></span></h2>
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<img alt="Iraqi security forces and volunteers took part in fighting against Islamist militants north of Baghdad on Thursday." src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/08/08/world/Iraq-1/Iraq-1-thumbStandard.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" /><div class="media-action-overlay" style="bottom: 8%; left: 8%; position: absolute;">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Earlier Friday, two F-18 fighters dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on a mobile artillery target that had just begun shelling Erbil, Pentagon officials said. A senior military official said on Friday that the artillery unit hit in the earlier bombing was being towed by a truck toward Erbil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="kicker-label" style="display: inline-block; font-weight: 700;">PLAY VIDEO</span><span class="pipe" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; vertical-align: text-bottom;">|</span><span class="counter" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px 0px -1px 8px; vertical-align: text-bottom;">2:00</span></span></span></h5>
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The Pesh Merga’s Fight Against ISIS</h4>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Pesh Merga’s Fight Against ISIS</span></h4>
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A look at who the pesh merga are, their history as Iraq’s most formidable force, and why President Obama has now authorized airstrikes against ISIS to support them.</div>
 <span class="credit video-credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="display: inline; float: none; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Video Credit</span>By Quynhanh Do and Emily B. Hager on <span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Publish Date</span>August 8, 2014. </span><span class="credit photo-credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="display: inline; float: none; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Image Credit</span>Safin Hamed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We do believe there were some casualties,” the official said about the initial strikes, although he would not say how many. He added, “They were shelling Erbil; they’re not firing anymore. I’ll tell you that.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mr. Obama said Thursday that he had authorized airstrikes if necessary to break an ISIS siege that has left tens of thousands of refugees stranded on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq. But so far, all of the military bombings have been carried out at targets near the Kurdish capital, where the United States has a consulate and where thousands of Americans live.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Defense officials said that they expect the strikes to continue as warranted, as part of an effort to slow the momentum of ISIS militants, who had accelerated their march on Kurdish targets in northern Iraq.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kurdish officials said the first round of American bombs struck on Friday afternoon in and around Makhmour, a town near Erbil. They reported an airstrike in the same location on Thursday, before the president’s announcement; the Pentagon denied that American warplanes carried out that earlier attack.</span></div>
<figure class="interactive promo  layout-large" id="the-iraq-isis-conflict-in-maps-photos-and-video" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(226, 226, 226); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(226, 226, 226); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; margin: 15px auto 15px 120px; max-width: 945px; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-top: 15px; position: relative; width: 510px;"><a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/world/middleeast/iraq.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0#story-continues-4" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Continue reading the main story</span></span></a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/12/world/middleeast/the-iraq-isis-conflict-in-maps-photos-and-video.html" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><figcaption class="interactive-caption" style="float: left; margin-right: 15px; width: 180px;"><h3 class="interactive-kicker" style="font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 0px 5px;">
GRAPHIC</h3>
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The Iraq-ISIS Conflict in Maps, Photos and Video</h2>
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A visual guide to the crisis in Iraq and Syria.</div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kurdish fighters, known as pesh merga, have been pressed hard in recent days by the militant fighters, who have seized several towns near Erbil from the Kurds and took the Mosul Dam, one of the most important installations in the country. The airstrike appeared intended to help stem the tide.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The airstrikes are being led by the U.S.A., and pesh merga are attacking with Katyusha,” said Halgurd Hekmat, a spokesman for the Kurdish fighters, referring to a type of Russian-made tactical rocket.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Many members of religious minorities in northern Iraq, including Christians, have fled to Kurdish territory to escape the advancing militants, who have imposed harsh fundamentalist rule in areas they control. Others have been trapped and besieged by the militants, including tens of thousands of Yezidis, who follow an ancient faith linked to Zoroastrianism and are stranded in a mountainous area to the west. Delivering humanitarian aid to that group is one of the purposes of the American operations in Iraq, Mr. Obama said.</span></div>
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<a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/world/middleeast/iraq.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0#story-continues-6" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Continue reading the main story</span></span></a><a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/world/middleeast/iraq.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0#story-continues-6" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Continue reading the main story</span></span></a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><iframe frameborder="0" height="280px" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://srv.dynamicyield.com/st?sec=8765344&id=International%20%20-%20August%202%20-%20August%208%202014" style="border-width: 0px; overflow: hidden;" vspace="0" width="300px"></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Britain, a close ally and coalition partner of the United States in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Friday that it would not take part in military action there now but would provide humanitarian aid and technical assistance.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“What we have decided today is to assist the United States in the humanitarian operations that started yesterday,” the British defense secretary, Michael Fallon, said in London on Friday. “We are offering technical assistance in that, in terms of refueling and surveillance. We are offering aid of our own, which we hope to drop over the next couple of days in support of the American relief effort, particularly to help the plight of those who are trapped on the mountain.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Turkey, a NATO ally that borders northern Iraq, said on Friday that it, too, would step up humanitarian aid to the region, news agencies reported.</span></div>
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<img src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/08/08/multimedia/isis-message-to-america/isis-message-to-america-videoSixteenByNine540.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 495px;" /><div class="media-action-overlay" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-transition: background-color 0.15s; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; border: 1px solid rgba(76, 76, 76, 0.85098); bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; left: 20px; max-width: 425px; min-width: 285px; padding: 15px 20px; position: absolute; transition: background-color 0.15s; z-index: 5;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="kicker-label" style="display: inline-block; font-weight: 700;">PLAY VIDEO</span><span class="pipe" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; vertical-align: text-bottom;">|</span><span class="counter" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px 0px -1px 8px; vertical-align: text-bottom;">0:33</span></span></span></h5>
<h4 class="headline" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); display: inline-block; font-weight: 400; margin: 4px 0px 0px;">
A Message to America From ISIS</h4>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A Message to America From ISIS</span></h4>
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In a YouTube video that appears to have been published by ISIS in June, a voice, identified as the group’s leader, warns the United States of an imminent confrontation with Muslim fighters.</div>
 <span class="credit video-credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="display: inline; float: none; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Video Credit</span>By YouTube on <span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Publish Date</span>August 8, 2014. </span><span class="credit photo-credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="display: inline; float: none; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Image Credit</span>Stringer/Iraq/Reuters</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Federal Aviation Administration, citing “the hazardous situation created by armed conflict,” instructed American air carriers on Thursday not to fly in Iraqi airspace until further notice. Turkish Airlines said it had suspended service to and from Erbil indefinitely; The Associated Press reported that Lufthansa had done the same and that British Airways would suspend flights over Iraq.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The leader of the militant group sent a defiant message to the Americans in <a href="https://twitter.com/isllamiic/status/497691608322551808" title="ISIS audio statement">an audio statement posted on Twitter</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I address this message to America, the holder of the Cross,” wrote the leader, known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Listen up, those who fight on your behalf will not give you any gains in Iraq and Syria. Soon enough, you will find yourself in a direct confrontation with the sons of Islam, who have prepared themselves well for the day we will fight you.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="icon" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.3s; border-bottom-left-radius: 1px; border-bottom-right-radius: 1px; border-top-left-radius: 1px; border-top-right-radius: 1px; display: inline-block; height: 13px; margin: -3px 8px 0px 0px; position: relative; transition: background-color 0.3s; vertical-align: middle; width: 20px;"></span>RECENT COMMENTS</span></span></h2>
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<article class="comment" data-permid="12512001" style="margin-top: 0px;"><header><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><h2 class="commenter" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px;">
ahay</h2>
 <time class="comment-time" datetime="" style="margin-left: 5px;">5 minutes ago</time></span></span></header><div class="comment-text">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When we invaded Iraq the first time, Colin Powell said "You break it, you own it". That now appears to be our Iraqi foreign policy for...</span></div>
</article><article class="comment" data-permid="12512063" style="margin-top: 15px;"><header><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><h2 class="commenter" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px;">
S.L.</h2>
 <time class="comment-time" datetime="" style="margin-left: 5px;">6 minutes ago</time></span></span></header><div class="comment-text">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Are we sure we didn't kill any innocent civilians when we dropped those bombs? Do we count deaths only when an other country kills civilians...</span></div>
</article><article class="comment" data-permid="12512028" style="margin-top: 15px;"><header><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><h2 class="commenter" style="display: inline-block; margin: 0px;">
Guy Cunningham</h2>
 <time class="comment-time" datetime="" style="margin-left: 5px;">6 minutes ago</time></span></span></header><div class="comment-text">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">another bit of evidence that fundamentalism is the root of most evil, as it nutralizes the empathic sense and the mental capacity of the...</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While Kurds welcomed Mr. Obama’s announcement of American assistance, the reaction in Baghdad was mixed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Obama’s speech did not delight Iraqis,” said Hakim al-Zamili, a leader of a main Shiite bloc in Parliament, the Sadr faction, who were among the strongest opponents of American involvement in Iraq. “They are looking out for their own interests, not for ours,” he said.</span></div>
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<h4 class="headline" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); display: inline-block; font-weight: 400; margin: 4px 0px 0px;">
Airstrikes in Iraq Seen Near Erbil</h4>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Airstrikes in Iraq Seen Near Erbil</span></h4>
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Smoke can be seen rising from the Khazer checkpoint outside the Kurdish capital of Erbil, where targeted airstrikes were authorized against Islamic radicals.</div>
 <span class="credit video-credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="display: inline; float: none; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Publish Date</span>August 8, 2014. </span><span class="credit photo-credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="display: inline; float: none; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Image Credit</span>Uncredited/AP video, via Associated Press</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“They should have provided Iraq with weapons,” he added, possibly an allusion to the American suspension of deliveries of F-16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters to Iraq.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Another Shiite leader, Sami al-Askeri, who is close to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said Mr. Obama’s call for airstrikes had come “too late.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“They should have made this decision when hundreds of Shiites and Sunnis were being killed every day,” he said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mr. Askeri accused the Obama administration of being interested only in “protecting the Kurdish regional government and Christians, not the rest of Iraq.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Iraqis must rely on themselves and their genuine friends like Iran and Russia, who have supported Iraq in its battle against ISIS,” he said. Russia has sent Sukhoi helicopters to the Iraqi forces, and Iran has trained and financed militia forces and sent advisers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The decision to announce American air operations on Thursday appeared to reflect a view among Kurdish, Iraqi and American military leaders that a crippling attack by the militants was more imminent than was widely recognized. The militants’ seizure of two towns within 20 miles of Erbil, which serves as the Kurdish capital, precipitated panic in the capital and the beginnings of an exodus of residents to Sulaimaniya, the largest city to the north.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Military leaders believed that if the city emptied, it would be much more vulnerable to an militant attack, officials said privately, asking not to be quoted because they did not want to shake morale.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The bombing appeared to bolster morale in Erbil on Friday, at least temporarily, according to people there. Fewer cars could be seen at the city gates attempting to leave, they said.</span></div>
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“The bombing changed the mood of the people,” said a pesh merga officer.</div>
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US Launches Second Air Assault Against Islamic Militants in Northern Iraq

M IDDLE EAST U.S. Warplanes Strike Militants in Iraq By ALISSA J. RUBIN , TIM ARANGO and HELENE COOPER AUG. 8, 2014 Phot...

13:48

Islamic State pulls down church crosses in northern Iraq as 200,000 flee

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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Islamic State jihadists who took over large areas of northern Iraq overnight have forced thousands of Christians to flee and occupied churches, removing crosses and destroying manuscripts, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako has said.</span></div>
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“(The Christians) have fled with nothing but their clothes, some of them on foot, to reach the Kurdistan region,” Patriarch Sako told AFP.</div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alttext="An Iraqi man carrying a cross and a Koran attends a mass at Mar Girgis Church in Baghdad" caption="An Iraqi man carrying a cross and a Koran attends a mass at Mar Girgis Church in Baghdad" copyright="Reuters" declared-caption="" height="287" name="IraaqChurch2" photographer="" refid="2999347" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02999/IraaqChurch2_2999347c.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: inline; overflow: hidden;" version="c" width="460" /></span></div>
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<sub style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">An Iraqi man carrying a cross and a Koran attends a mass at Mar Girgis Church in Baghdad (Reuters)</span></sub></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“This is a humanitarian disaster. The churches are occupied, their crosses were taken down,” said Sako. He added that up to 1,500 manuscripts were burnt.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The United Nations put the number of people who have fled as high as 200,000, and said that many thousands of people trapped by the militants on Sinjar mountain had been rescued in the past 24 hours.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We’re just receiving the information right now. We’ve just heard that people over the last 24 hours have been extracted and the UN is mobilising resources to ensure that these people are assisted on arrival,” David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told Reuters.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is a “tragedy of immense proportions”, he said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alttext="Iraq's ethnic mix" caption="Iraq's ethnic mix" declared-caption="" height="500" name="0808-iraq-ethnic" photographer="" refid="2999773" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02999/0808-iraq-ethnic_2999773a.png" style="border: 0px; display: inline; overflow: hidden;" width="460" /><sub>Iraq's ethnic mix</sub></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Pope Francis called on the international community to protect Iraq's Christian community.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A statement delivered by his spokesman said the Pope joined the urgent appeals for peace from bishops in the Middle East and called on the international community to "ensure the necessary help" reaches people fleeing fighters from the Islamic State.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The US denounced the jihadist offensive, warning the situation for civilians driven from their homes threatens to become a "humanitarian catastrophe".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It is a situation that that we are looking at very closely," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, following reports that President Barack Obama was actively considering military intervention.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Islamic State militants overran Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian town, after pushing back Kurdish troops across a large area of the north of the country, fleeing residents and Christian clerics said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alttext="Displaced Christians wait for humanitarian aid at a church in Hamdaniya town, east of Mosul" caption="Displaced Christians wait for humanitarian aid at a church in Hamdaniya town, east of Mosul" copyright="Reuters" declared-caption="" height="287" name="IraaqChurch3" photographer="" refid="2999351" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02999/IraaqChurch3_2999351c.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: inline; overflow: hidden;" version="c" width="460" /></span></div>
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<sup style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">Displaced Christians wait for humanitarian aid at a church in Hamdaniya town, east of Mosul (Reuters)</span></sup></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jihadists moved in overnight to claim several Christian towns, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee, having pushed back Kurdish peshmerga troops, who are stretched thin across several fronts in Iraq.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alttext="Graffiti with the letter "Noon", the first letter of the world "Nasara", the word used in the Koran for Christians, tagged on the wall of a church (top L and bottom R) and on houses in the Iraqi city of Mosul" caption="Graffiti with the letter &quot;Noon&quot;, the first letter of the world &quot;Nasara&quot;, the word used in the Koran for Christians, tagged on the wall of a church (top L and bottom R) and on houses in the Iraqi city of Mosul" declared-caption="" height="287" name="IraaqChurch4" photographer="" refid="2999354" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02999/IraaqChurch4_2999354c.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: inline; overflow: hidden;" version="c" width="460" /></span></div>
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<sup style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: small;">Graffiti with the letter "Noon", the first letter of the world "Nasara", the word used in the Koran for Christians, tagged on the wall of a church (top L and bottom R) and on houses in the Iraqi city of Mosul</span></sup></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I now know that the towns of Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlesh have been emptied of their original population and are now under the control of the militants,” Joseph Thomas, the Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, told AFP.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s a catastrophe, a tragic situation. We call on the UN Security Council to immediately intervene. Tens of thousands of terrified people are being displaced as we speak, it cannot be described,” the archbishop said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Islamic State group posted a statement online later om Thursday, confirming that they had taken control of Mosul Dam - Iraq's largest dam - and vowed to continue "the march in all directions," adding that it will not "give up the great Caliphate project".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The group added that it has seized a total of 17 cities, towns and targets - including the dam - over the past five days. The statement could not be verified but it was posted on a site frequently used by the group.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The overnight advance came after the Sunni militants inflicted a humiliating defeat on Kurdish forces in a weekend sweep in the north.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alttext="Area in Iraq controlled by Islamic State in January 2014" caption="Area in Iraq controlled by Islamic State in January 2014" declared-caption="" height="500" name="0808-iraq-jan" photographer="" refid="2999778" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02999/0808-iraq-jan_2999778a.png" style="border: 0px; display: inline; overflow: hidden;" width="460" /><sub>Area in Iraq controlled by Islamic State in January 2014</sub></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alttext="Area in Iraq controlled by Islamic State in August 2014" caption="Area in Iraq controlled by Islamic State in August 2014" declared-caption="" height="500" name="0808-iraq-nowFINAL" photographer="" refid="3000138" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03000/0808-iraq-nowFINAL_3000138a.png" style="border: 0px; display: inline; overflow: hidden;" width="460" /><sub>Area in Iraq controlled by Islamic State in August 2014</sub></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Several residents contacted by AFP confirmed that the entire area in northern Iraq, home to a large part of the country’s Christian community, had fallen to the Islamic State jihadist group.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tal Kayf, the home of a significant Christian community as well as members of the Shabak Shiite minority, also emptied overnight.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Tal Kayf is now in the hands of the Islamic State. They faced no resistance and rolled in just after midnight,” said Boutros Sargon, a resident who fled the town and was reached by phone in Arbil.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I heard some gunshots last night and when I looked outside, I saw a military convoy from the Islamic State. They were shouting 'Allahu akbar’ (God is greatest),” he said.</span></div>
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Islamic State pulls down church crosses in northern Iraq as 200,000 flee

Islamic State jihadists who took over large areas of northern Iraq overnight have forced thousands of Christians to flee and occupied chu...

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US Launches Second Air Assault Against Islamic Militants in Northern Iraq

Islamic State pulls down church crosses in northern Iraq as 200,000 flee

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