The first airstrikes have been carried out against ISIS fighters in northern Iraq, the Pentagon said Friday.
Two FA-18 fighter jets dropped 500-pound bombs near the strategic city of Erbil at 6:45 a.m. ET against jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Fox News reported. ISIL militants have also been referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS
An aircraft carrier named the USS George HW Bush sent the two fighter jets from its location in the Persian Gulf, Defense Department officials told USA Today.
The bombs struck an artillery stronghold the militants were using against Kurdish troops in Erbil, the Kurdish region capital where American personnel are currently located, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said Friday. The U.S. also has a consulate in Erbil.
"As the president made clear, the United States military will continue to take direct action against ISIL when they threaten our personnel and facilities," Kirby said in a statement.
Friday's strikes were carried out hours after President Barack Obama approved "targeted airstrikes" against the Sunni extremists that have threatened to kill thousands of religious minorities in the region. Obama said the strikes would be carried out to prevent genocide and to stop militant convoys if they approach Erbil.
Some 40,000 members of the Yazidi religious sect and Christians are trapped on top of a desert-like mountain in northern Iraq after ISIS militants forced them to flee their homes, threatening death if they return.
The strikes mark the return of U.S. military action in Iraq since the end of the war in 2011, Fox News reported. Obama said Thursday night that troops will not be returning to Iraq.
Obama also said bundles of food and water have already been airdropped to help the refugees stranded on Mount Sinjar near the town of Sinjar.
