Fighting ISIS in Iraq

Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment against ISIS militants near Erbil, Aug. 8, 2014. U.S. warplanes bombed Islamist fighters marching on Iraq's Kurdish capital on Friday after President Barack Obama said Washington must act to prevent "genocide".

Erbil

Smoke rises after airstrikes targeting Islamic State militants near the Khazer checkpoint outside of the city of Erbil in northern Iraq, Aug. 8, 2014. Iraqi Air Force has been carrying out strikes against the militants, and for the first time on Friday, U.S. war planes have directly targeted the extremist Islamic State group, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq.

Erbil

Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in an intensive security deployment against ISIS militants near Erbil, Aug. 8, 2014. U.S. warplanes bombed Islamist fighters marching on Iraq's Kurdish capital on Friday after President Barack Obama said Washington must act to prevent "genocide".

Gulf

Sailors launch aircraft from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), Aug. 7, 2014. George H.W. Bush is supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.

Erbil

Iraqi Christians who fled the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kilometres east of the northern province of Nineveh, rest upon their arrival at the Saint-Joseph church in the Kurdish city of Arbil, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Aug. 7, 2014. Gunmen from the Sunni Muslim group ISIS seized Qaraqush, Iraq's largest Christian town, and several others near Mosul following the withdrawal of Kurdish peshmerga fighters, inhabitants said.

Erbil

Displaced Iraqi Christians settle at St. Joseph Church in Erbil, northern Iraq, Aug. 7, 2014. Late Wednesday, militants overran a cluster of predominantly Christian villages alongside the country's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, sending tens of thousands of civilians and Kurdish fighters fleeing from the area, several priests in northern Iraq said Thursday.

Sinjar

Smoke rises during clashes between Kurdish "peshmerga" troops and ISIS militants on the outskirts of Sinjar, west of Mosul, Aug. 5, 2014. Tens of thousands fled the weekend assault on Sinjar and are now surrounded, according to witnesses and the United Nations, after the Sunni militants inflicted a humiliating defeat on Kurdish forces who had held towns in the area for years.

Sinjar

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar west of Mosul, take refuge at Dohuk province, Aug. 7, 2014. Islamic State militants extended their gains in northern Iraq on Thursday, seizing more towns and strengthening a foothold near the Kurdish region in an offensive that has alarmed the Baghdad government and regional powers.

Sinjar

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar west of Mosul, take refuge at Dohuk province, Aug. 7, 2014. ISIS militants extended their gains in northern Iraq on Thursday, seizing more towns and strengthening a foothold near the Kurdish region in an offensive that has alarmed the Baghdad government and regional powers.

Sinjar

A member of the Kurdish "peshmerga" troops prays during an intensive security deployment on the outskirts of Sinjar, west of Mosul, Aug. 5, 2014.

Sinjar

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, west of Mosul, take refuge at Dohuk province, Aug. 4, 2014. Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his air force for the first time to back Kurdish forces against ISIS fighters after the Sunni militants made another dramatic push through the north.

Sinjar

Displaced families from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar west of Mosul, take refuge at Dohuk province, Aug. 4, 2014.

Sinjar

Displaced families from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar west of Mosul, take refuge at Dohuk province, Aug. 4, 2014.

Erbil

Displaced demonstrators from the minority Yazidi sect gather during a protest against ISIS militants in Erbil, Aug. 4, 2014. Islamic State's offensive has whipped up sectarian tensions and threatened to dismember Iraq. The sectarian conflict poses the biggest danger to the OPEC member's stability since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein after a U.S.-led invasion.