The New York Times is reporting -based on ground sources in the region- that the U.S. is bombing ISIS positions in Northern Iraq.
However, I share with an abundance of caution -and I can most certainly be wrong- but my hunch is the ground reports, and as a consequence the New York Times, are crediting the wrong air force.
Additionally, the White House is strongly refuting the claims by the NYT. Here’s the report from the Times:
DOHUK, Iraq — American military forces bombed at least two targets in northern Iraq on Thursday night to rout Islamist insurgents who have trapped tens of thousands of religious minorities in Kurdish areas, Kurdish officials said.
Word of the bombings, reported on Kurdish television from the city of Erbil, came as President Obama was preparing to make a statement in Washington.
Kurdish officials said the bombings targeted fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria who had seized two towns, Gwer and Mahmour. Residents who had fled those areas by car were heard honking their horns in approval.
Obama administration officials had said earlier in the day that Mr. Obama was considering airstrikes or airdrops of food and medicine to address a humanitarian crisis among as many as 40,000 members of religious minorities in Iraq, who have been dying of heat and thirst on a mountaintop where they took shelter after death threats from ISIS. (link)
In my humble opinion this is NOT the U.S.
This could very well be France carrying out a limited emergency air campaign both to “halt” the ISIS advance, and secondarily to provide aid to the fleeing Kurds and Northern Iraqi Christian community.
It’s just a hunch…. but stay tuned.
IRBIL, Iraq — Jet aircraft attacked Islamic State positions outside the town of Kalak, 25 miles northwest of Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, a resident of Kalak told McClatchy early Friday.
The resident, reached by phone from Irbil, said she had seen the aircraft and had heard the explosions coming from behind Islamic State lines, which are slightly more than a mile away. The resident said because it was dark she could not see any markings on the aircraft.
Kurdish television reported that the bombers were American. There was no confirmation from U.S. officials in Washington.
The reported bombing came after a day of panic in the Kurdish capital following Islamic State militants’ seizure of four strategic towns on a key highway and their advance to positions just minutes from Irbil. (McClatchy Report)
https://twitter.com/PentagonPresSec/statuses/497488631599464448