Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Obama: ‘We broke the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar’

When President Obama finally turned up to his press conference on Iraq and the situation in Missouri, he made quite clear that he does not intend to increase US involvement in the country.

He said Americans could feel ‘proud’ of the campaign that their country had led, pointing to the discovery that there were far fewer Yazidis trapped on the mountain than previously thought. The President added that he did ‘not expect there to be an additional operation to evacuate people’ from the mountain, and that the majority of military personnel who assessed the situation will be leaving Iraq in the coming days.

He did add that the situation remains ‘dire’ for religious minorities in the country, and that the US would provide assistance where it could. It will continue air strikes against ISIS and that Iraqi and Kurdish forces will also receive US military assistance.

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