British Special Forces are in the region, some of whom speak Arabic - but MOD insists operation is humanitarian

Military action by U.S. prompted violent response by militants amid fears UK could be drawn into another conflict

Britain joins campaign as government pledges another £8m in aid and two supply planes leave RAF Brize Norton


Footage has revealed the moment U.S. forces launched their first airstrikes on Iraq in three years as President Obama vowed to prevent 'genocide' by Islamic extremists.

Shot from fighter jets and drones which were dispatched yesterday, the images show missiles exploding on three separate militants' convoys yesterday in an escalation which has sparked vows of retribution by the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS.

It came before fresh packages of aid were delivered today to the tens of thousands of refugees trapped on a mountainside, as the U.S. President said there could be further airstrikes if they are needed to protect refugees.

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Crossing the Rubicon: The U.S. military has released footage of its first airstrikes in Iraq since troops left in 2011. The three strikes were yesterday and President Obama has refused to rule out ordering more. The video's first section shows a missile (circled) exploding into what U.S. forces said were mobile artillery near Irbil, northern Iraq

Blast: In the first segment of the video, the mobile artillery unit bursts into flames after being hit by an American airstrike in an escalation of the conflict

U.S. troops made the second air drop this morning with 28,000 meals and almost 7,000 litres of water to the Sinjar Mountains in northern Iraq, a barren range which has become home to tens of thousands of Yazidis.

Along with Christians and Shia Muslims, the members of an ancient religion are persecuted by the radical Islamists who have swept through Iraq because they claim they are heretics.

Other Yazidis have fled across the border to Turkey or taken shelter in Lalish, the holy valley containing the tomb of one of their leaders, where photos show them huddled together on blankets with babies in basic cribs.

The U.S. began its landmark military campaign yesterday against Islamic State, formerly and more commonly known as ISIS, whose fighters have swept through huge tracts of Iraq murdering thousands of people in their path.

Two F/A-18 jets dropped 500lb bombs on a piece of Islamic State artillery and the truck towing it yesterday, sparking promises of retribution from the militants amid fears Britain could be drawn into another Iraqi conflict.

Speaking today, President Obama said more air strikes were likely around the Sinjar Mountains where the Yazidis are trapped - and refused to give a timetable for how long the offensive might take.

Attack: Footage of a second U.S. airstrike showed an explosion on what appeared to be a sparse mountain road. The images were released by the U.S. military

Another strike: The third airstrike reportedly hit a stationary Islamic State convoy of seven vehicles yesterday near the city of Irbil in northern Iraq. More could follow

Explosion: A more zoomed-out view of the blast through the aircraft's cameras slows black smoke and balls of fire billowing from the site in an Iraqi field

Warning: Speaking today, U.S. President Barack Obama said more strikes are likely around the Sinjar Mountains where thousands of refugees have been trapped

'The U.S. and Iraqi governments have stepped up our military assistance to Kurds as they wage this fight,' he said. 'American aircraft are positioned to strike IS terrorists around the mountain to help forces in Iraq break the seige and rescue those who are trapped there.'

He insisted he was pursuing a 'broader strategy' aimed at 'preventing an act of genocide'. 'Ultimately only Iraqis can ensure the stability and security of Iraq', he said. 'The United States can't do it for them.'

But he added: 'We will protect our American citizens in Iraq whether they're diplomats, civilians or military. If these terrorists threaten our facilities or our personnel we will take action to protect our people.

'We will continue to provide military assistance and advice to the Iraqi government as they battle these terrorists so they cannot establish a safe haven.

'This morning I spoke with Prime Minister Cameron of the UK and President Hollande of France and I'm pleased that both leaders agree with our strong support.

'Once again America is proud to act alongside our closest friends and allies.'

Aid: Several tonnes of blankets and drinking water were loaded onto an RAF Hercules C130 at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. Two of the planes left for Iraq today

Pledge: Britain has declared another £8million in aid to the 500,000 refugees in Iraq who have been forced from their homes by the threats of Islamic State militants

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: 'We can expect a continuing drumbeat of airdrop operations working in co-ordination with the U.S.'

Lifeline: Bob Gibbons from the Department for International Development and Cpl Chris Kent perform final checks on the British humanitarian aid bound for Iraq

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who chaired a meeting of the government's emergency committee Cobra this afternoon, added: 'We can expect a continuing drumbeat of airdrop operations working in co-ordination with the U.S. and potentially with others as well.

'But more widely we are looking at how to support this group of people and get them off that mountain, how we are going to facilitate their exit from what is a completely unacceptable situation.'

This morning a cargo plane with urgent humanitarian supplies left RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, hours after Britain pledged another £8million in urgent aid. It is believed another similar plane will leave in the near future.

The haul on the C130 Hercules aircraft includes clean water, tents and tarpaulins for up to 75,000 people.

A second plane left this afternoon - but the Ministry of Defence has been keen to stress there are no desires to enter another war.

A spokesman told MailOnline today: 'We're talking about a humanitarian mission, not a military one'.

And Britain has Special Forces in the region working with US counterparts, identifying potential targets for further air strikes aimed at stopping the advances of Islamists towards Kurdish areas or Baghdad.

Many SAS men speak Arabic and know Iraq's mountains and cities well after a decade of missions. An MOD spokesman said: 'We do not comment on the movements of Special Forces'.

Persecuted: Yazidi children (pictured) have taken to sheltering in the holy valley of Lalish, while others trapped in the Sinjar Mountains were flown renewed supplies by the U.S. today. The religious minority is not alone in being threatened by the militants, who also say Christians and Shia Muslims are heretics and should convert

Plight: Left, a Yazidi woman and a young baby shelter in Lalish, the religion's holy valley in northern Iraq. Right: A Yazidi girl who has escaped to the city of Sirnak, Turkey

Under siege: Surrounded by Islamic extremists in northern Iraq, thousands of traditional Yazidi people have taken to sheltering in their holy valley of Lalish

Amid the threat - which has seen insurgents repairing Iraq's biggest dam this morning just half an hour's drive from the Kurdish regional capital Irbil - Kurds have been buying up scores of AK-47s at markets and foreign oil firm employees have been flown home.

Etihad Airways has become the latest carrier to stop flying over Iraq after Emirates, the Middle East's largest airline, did the same.

Yesterday extremists captured hundreds of Yazidi women in Mosul and held them in schools while thousands of other civilians fled in fear, according to officials.

Kami Amin, a spokesman for Iraq's human rights ministry, said: 'We think that the terrorists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans for them.

'We think that these women are going to be used in demeaning ways by those terrorists to satisfy their animalistic urges in a way that contradicts all the human and Islamic values.'

Threat: Islamic State fighters have continued their relentless sweep through Iraq, causing refugees to flee and carrying out brutal executions on their enemies

Shelter: The valley of Lalish. Today the U.S. made a second air drop with 28,000 meals and almost 7,000 litres of water as Britain sends supplied for 75,000 people

Babies: Yazidis taking shelter in the holy valley of Lalish in northern Iraq. The UN says more than 500,000 people have been displaced by Islamists' campaign of terror

Holy site: The valley of Lalish is where one of the most important figures in the Yazidi faith is buried. It has become a place of shelter but may not remain so for long

Yazidis belong to ancient religion seen by the Islamic State group as heretical and are not alone in being persecuted.

The group also sees Shia Muslims as apostates, and has demanded Christians either convert to Islam or pay a special tax.

Escorted by two Navy fighter jets this morning, three planes dropped 72 bundles of supplies for the refugees trapped in the Sinjar Mountains in northern Iraq, where they are trying to escape to Turkey.

The extremists' 'campaign of terror against the innocent, including the Yazidi and Christian minorities, and its grotesque and targeted acts of violence bear all the warning signs and hallmarks of genocide,' said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. 'For anyone who needed a wake-up call, this is it.'

The U.S. bombing yesterday was followed up by a second round of airstrikes near Irbil, the city where officials said the artillery would have been used.

Support: This image released today by the U.S. Department of Defense shows pallets of bottled water loaded and ready for yesterday's first humanitarian air drop

As well as supplies from the U.S. (pictured), Britain announced an extra £8million in aid yesterday and the first batch of supplies left RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire today

Relief: Yazidi people who have fled Iraq to the Turkish city of Sirnak. Thousands of refugees have been pouring across the border as the violence spreads

Pictured: A Yazidi woman who has made it over the border to Turkey. Islamic State have captured a string of towns and Iraq's largest hydroelectric dam in recent weeks

The Yazidi religion is centred around worship of the fallen archangel Melek Tawwus, or Peacock Angel. Unlike Satan's fall from grace, Melek Tawwus was readmitted into Heaven by God and represents humanity's potential for both good and evil. This means followers have unfairly become known as devil-worshippers in Iraq

Gathered on blankets: The Yazidi people, along with Christians and Shia Muslims, are considered heretics by the Islamist fighters sweeping through Iraq

Officials said unmanned aircraft hit a mortar and four Navy F/A-18 fighter jets destroyed a seven-vehicle convoy.

President Obama then said the U.S. will continue airstrikes 'if necessary' to protect civilians in Iraq.

According to the U.N., more than 500,000 people have been displaced by the violence in Iraq since June, bringing the total this year to well over a million.

Expanding from their stronghold of Mosul, Islamic State have captured a string of towns and Iraq's largest hydroelectric dam and reservoir in recent weeks.

The group captured Mosul in June then launched a blitz towards the south, sweeping over Sunni-majority towns almost to the capital, Baghdad.

Last line of defence: Kurdish fighters (pictured) say they are willing to fight to the death to defend their homeland in northern Iraq from the Islamic State fighters

Forces: With almost no armour, Kurdish peshmerga troops stand guard today against the Islamic State threat in the Yezidis' most holy site, the valley of Lalish

Battle: Kurdish peshmerga fighters load a missile launcher yesterday during clashes with the army groups led by Islamic State fighters in Mosul, Iraq

Missile: The Kurdish fighters are seen as the last line of defence because they are poorly-resourced to deal with the invading horde of militants

Unlike in the previous Iraq invasion, Kurdish fighters (pictured) have welcomed U.S. involvement. Kurdish leader Khalid Jamal Alber said: 'We thank Barack Obama'

It already holds large parts of western Iraq and neighboring Syria, and Iraqi government forces crumbled in the face of the assault but have since been able to prevent the militants from advancing into Shiite-majority areas.

In the north, Kurdish fighters have been the main line of defense against the radicals but they are over-stretched and under-resourced.

In contrast to Washington's decision to invade Iraq more than a decade ago, both the airdrop and the authorization of military action against the Islamic State group were widely welcomed by Iraqi and Kurdish officials fearful of the militants' advance.

'We thank Barack Obama,' said Khalid Jamal Alber, from the Religious Affairs Ministry in the Kurdish government.

The International Rescue Committee said it was providing emergency medical care for up to 4,000 dehydrated Yazidis, mostly women and children, who survived without food or water for up to six days hiding in the Sinjar mountains before fleeing to a refugee camp in Syria, where a civil war is raging.

Officials in Britain, Germany and elsewhere pledged financial aid to support humanitarian efforts in Iraq, and several top European officials supported Obama's decision to intervene with airstrikes.

Making contact: Iraqi Yazidi people who fled the Sinjar town of Mosul to the Silopi district of Turkey's Sirnak city due to the attacks of Islamic State-led armed groups

Getting signal: While some have escaped the country, other Yazidis - this man included - are forced to consider their options in their holy valley of Lalish

How events unfolded: Yesterday marked a landmark campaign by the U.S., its first incursion into Iraq by air since troops pulled out of the country in 2011