Air Force F-15Es and F-16s have conducted strikes in Iraq in recent days, the Pentagon said Monday, joining Navy F/A-18s that engaged in the initial bombing runs against Islamist militants threatening the northern city of Erbil and ethnic minority groups.
Army Lt. Gen. Bill Mayville, the Joint Staff director of operations, told reporters the aircraft, along with the unmanned MQ-1 Predators, have carried out a combined 15 airstrikes since operations began on Friday against the Islamic State, also known as the ISIS.
Mayville said the airstrikes have helped to slow the advance of the militant forces near Erbil and Sinjar Mountain, where tens of thousands of the minority groups arrived in fleeing the ISIS.
More than 60 aircraft have been conducting intelligence and surveillance flights to support airstrikes and monitor the humanitarian crisis that has afflicted the civilians on Sinjar, Mayville said.
He cautioned, however, that while the strikes were disrupting the ISIS advance on Erbil, they have done little to damage the Islamic State forces in other areas of the country. The militants control broad swaths of northern and central Iraq, as well as parts of Syria.
Mayville said the Pentagon is exploring how to support the Kurdish forces defending Erbil, including weaponry. He did not offer specifics, but said the forces needed weapons to counter the militants’ use of technical vehicles.
Technical vehicles are basically trucks with heavy guns mounded on them.