U.S. Expands Air Strikes Against Islamic State Around Haditha Dam
BAGHDAD (Worthy News)– The U.S. military said Sunday it launched airstrikes around Haditha Dam in western Iraq, targeting Islamic State insurgents there for the first time in a move to prevent the group from capturing the vital dam, the CBC reported.
The strikes represented a broadening of the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State militants, moving the military operations closer to the border of Syria, where the group also has been operating.
Speaking in Georgia where he’s meeting with government and defense officials, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that if the dam were to fall into the militant’s hands “or if that dam would be destroyed, the damage that that would cause would be very significant and it would put a significant additional and big risk into the mix in Iraq” including U.S. interests there.
At the same time, however, Hagel rejected the suggestion that the Haditha strikes opened up a new front in the war against the Islamic State group or that it represented an escalation of the U.S. military operations. — Source
Related News on the Internet
Iraq ‘clears’ IS from key dam area after US strikes – BBC
Iraqi government forces say they have cleared Islamic State (IS) militants from a wide area around the strategic Haditha dam, helped by US air strikes.
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