US Ready to Help Iraq Drive Out ISIL

The United States is prepared to support Iraq to help drive out Al-Qaeda fighters who have occupied a number of cities in the country, President Barrack Obama told the media on Thursday, June 12, 2014. 

Obama said that the US may be prepared to launch airstrikes and it would be the first military intervention in Iraq since 2011, when they overthrew Saddam Hussein.

Obama's statement on Thursday was a response to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) action, which has already taken control over main areas in the northern part of the country, and vowed to continue their attack to the capital Baghdad.

"Iraq is going to need more help. It's going to need more help from us, and it's going to need more help from the international community," Obama said as reported by Al Jazeera.

Amid their ambition to establish an Islamic state in the border of Iraq and Syria, ISIL had launched a military campaign in nearly one-third of Iraq territory with a number of other armed groups.

On Wednesday, June 11, 2014, the armed fighters took over Tikrit, a region located 140 kilometers northwest of Baghdad. They also captured the Mosul, Falujjah and other pockets of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province to the west of Baghdad.

Source : Tempo