US begins airstrikes, aid drops in Iraq

President Barack Obama has authorized airstrikes in Iraq in an effort to slow the rapid advances of the Islamic State throughout the country.

The New York Times reports that the decision was motivated by fears the Kurdish capital of Erbil could fall to IS. The actions were also driven by the stories of the horrors faced by Iraq's Yazidi community.

Some 40,000 Yazidis are stuck on a mountaintop without food or water. Many have already succumbed to the harsh desert heat, while fears grow that an enormous massacre may follow when IS reaches the beleaguered community. In remarks on the new U.S. actions, Obama said that the group faced "genocide."

In a addition to the use of military force on IS targets, the president also authorized air drops of food and medicine to the trapped Yazidis. One C-17 and two C-30 aircraft carried out the supply drop at Mount Sinjar. Two F-18 fighter jets accompanied the planes as they flew around the mountain for about 15 minutes making the drops.

All told, the planes dropped 5,300 gallons of drinking water and 8,000 ready to eat meals.

Such airdrops will continue until they are no longer needed.

On the military front, Kurdish and Iraqi officials say that U.S. forces attacked the towns of Gwer and Mahmour, which recently came under IS control. Those towns' proximity to the Kurdish capital have rattled the international community because the Kurds were largely seen as a bulwark against the continuing spread of IS. 

IS' advances on Erbil also spurred U.S. actions because there are a large amount of U.S. diplomats, military advisers, and other personnel currently working in the city.

In another effort to stop IS, the U.S. government has said that it will speed up the delivery of weapons and other aid to the Kurdish militias.