US supports coalition forces in attack on Islamic State

A coalition of Shia militias, regular Iraqi army units and Kurdish forces, backed by U.S. air power, on Sunday broke a long siege of Amerli, a town in northern Iraq that for weeks had been surrounded by Sunni extremists who threatened to slaughter thousands of Shia residents.

The U.S. air strikes on positions held by fighters of the Islamic State (IS) near Amerli, about 170 kilometres north of Baghdad, were carried out Saturday night in conjunction with airdrops of supplies to the town's thousands of besieged residents. The U.S. operation was supporting a ground offensive led by Shia militia fighters, many of whom once fought fierce battles against American soldiers.

Iraqi security forces and Iraqi Shi'ite volunteers react after breaking a siege by the Islamic State extremist group on Amerli August 31, 2014. Iraqi security forces backed by Shi'ite militias 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. REUTERS

media

Noted Indian sand artist makes sculpture condemning the assassination of American journalist James Foley by Islamic State militant in Iraq. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). Reuters

Video

The international development minister says aid packages, including tents and hygiene kits, are being sent to Iraq to help religious minorities. Christian Paradis says the supplies are meant to 'address basic needs.' CP Video

Video

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says the Justice Department has opened a federal investigation into the death of journalist James Foley, beheaded by Islamist militants. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). Reuters

Video

'ISIS militants have fled as our heroes in the army and the volunteers are progressing at Amerli,' said Qassim Atta, the Iraqi military spokesman, according to a report on state television Sunday. ISIS is an abbreviation of a former name for the Islamic State.

Security officials said Sunday that Amerli, a cluster of villages whose population is dominated by Shia Turkmen who are considered infidels by the IS, was not fully liberated but that the combined forces had cleared several villages from the militants. Fierce fighting in the area continued Sunday afternoon.

The operation around Amerli is the latest expansion of U.S. military operations in Iraq in recent weeks. First, the U.S. military sent warplanes and drones to destroy millions of dollars of U.S. equipment that had been abandoned on the battlefield by the Iraqi army and seized by the IS. Now, the United States has provided air support for several Iranian-backed Shia militias that are leading the fight against the IS in Ameril with the help of Kurdish peshmerga forces and Iraqi army units.

Both the United States and Iran, while not co-ordinating operations in Iraq, are nevertheless on the same side in the conflict against the IS. The United States, though, has been reluctant to pursue military operations with Iraq's Shia militias. The militias have taken on a primary role in providing security in Baghdad and responding to the advances of the IS; the Iraqi army, which had been financed and trained by the United States, has proved largely ineffective.

The Obama administration has tried to avoid being seen as taking sides in Iraq's sectarian war because the militias are especially feared by Iraq's Sunni population. The reality on the ground, however - the growing brutality of the IS, the humanitarian crisis and the threat of a slaughter in Amerli - appeared to override those concerns.

The nature of the two sides in this war has become increasingly evident as the conflict has evolved. The Sunni extremists of the IS have been rampaging through Iraq, beheading some of those it captures, carrying out large-scale massacres of Shiites and expelling hundreds of thousands of residents. The Shia militias, which have in the past been responsible for abuses against Sunni civilians, are largely protecting their own communities and have proved essential to the defence of Baghdad.

On Saturday night, the Pentagon said American planes had carried out air strikes on several IS positions, destroying three Humvees, one armed vehicle, a tank and an IS checkpoint. In addition, U.S. aircraft, along with aircraft from France, Australia and Britain, dropped humanitarian aid into Amerli.

The Pentagon statement said the U.S. operations 'will be limited in their scope and duration as necessary to address this emerging humanitarian crisis and protect civilians' trapped in Amerli.

When President Barack Obama first authorized U.S. air strikes in Iraq several weeks ago, the justification was to protect American civilians in Erbil, the Kurdish capital, which was being threatened by IS fighters, and to support humanitarian aid drops on Mount Sinjar, where thousands of Yazidis, members of an ancient sect, had sought refuge from the advancing militants.

More recently, pressure has increased to help the besieged residents of Amerli, as officials worried that the IS would carry out another mass killing of civilians.

On Sunday night, Iraqi police officials said a suicide driver rammed an explosives-laden car into a police checkpoint in Ramadi city, killing 14 people, including nine policemen. About 27 people were also wounded in the attack. Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province, is 115 kilometres west of Baghdad.

Follow us on Twitter: @globeandmail