| US president says measure aimed at averting "genocide" in the country, hours after the UN sought global help for Iraq. |
US President Barack Obama has authorized targeted air strikes against Sunni fighters in Iraq, saying the measure was meant to avert "genocide" in the country.
"We can act, carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of
genocide," Obama said on Thursday, referring to the Yazidis, a religious
minority group besieged by fighters from the so-called Islamic State."I therefore authorized targeted air strikes if necessary to helpforces in Iraq as they fight to break the siege and protect the
civilians trapped there," he said.
Obama did not, however, confirm or deny whether the US had already carried out air strikes in Iraq as claimed by a spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga force.
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