Daesh is an Arabic acronym for IS.After three days of airstrikes, the IS advance on Irbil was slowed and Kurdish forces retook the base. "I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq," said President Barack Obama when he announced the authorization for airstrikes in Iraq in 2014. Airwars, a project tracking airstrikes targeting IS, estimates that at least 1,568 civilians have likely died in coalition actions.For Iraq's Kurdish peshmerga forces, pushing back IS has also meant strengthening their hold on disputed territory. They are among the 560 additional troops that President Obama approved for the Iraq mission last month. MAKHMOUR, IRAQ: Two years ago, the US-led coalition dropped the first airstrikes on the Islamic State group, ushering in a deeper phase of intervention that dramatically changed the fight against the militant group in Iraq.

Source: Times of India August 09, 2016 05:48 UTC