FW:  Aug. 11, 2014

Some US consulate staff in Irbil are being moved amid security concerns, as America tries to protect civilians from insurgents.

American military planes have carried out a fourth round of airstrikes against insurgents in Iraq as a Republican senator warned the group was a threat to the US homeland.

The aerial raids are aimed at stopping the advance of the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS, which has taken control of large swathes of northern and western Iraq in recent months.

The strikes have included attacks by fighter jets and drones close to Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish region in the north.

America is trying to protect US personnel in the city, as well as tens of thousands of Yazidi people gathered on Mount Sinjar after fleeing the jihadists.

US military aircraft, along with RAF planes, have dropped food and water supplies to the Yazidis, who are a religious minority in Iraq.

And American attack planes are also helping Kurdish Peshmerga forces as they take on the Sunni militants near the city, where there is a US consulate.

Aircraft struck and destroyed an Islamic State armed truck that was firing on the Kurds. There were four other strikes targeting armed trucks and a mortar position.

But some staff are being moved from the consulate amid security concerns, said the State Department.

Kurdish forces say they have managed to retake two towns from the insurgents - Makhmour and al Gweir about 30 miles from Irbil.

Sunni militants have executed at least 500 Yazidi people, dumping their victims in mass graves across the north of the country, an official has said.

There is "striking evidence" the fighters have buried some of their victims, including women and children, alive as they continue their bloody advance across Iraq, according to the human rights minister.

President Barack Obama said the current military campaign would be a "long-term project" to protect civilians from the deadly and brutal insurgents.

But Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the airstrikes were insufficient to repel the militants and were designed "to avoid a bad news story on his watch".

Mr Graham said: "I think of an American city in flames because of the terrorists' ability to operate in Syria and in Iraq."

He said of the rebels: "They are coming here. This is just not about Baghdad. This is just not about Syria. It is about our homeland."

The chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, also said the rebels pose a threat "in our backyard" and were recruiting westerners.

Republican Representative Peter King criticised Mr Obama for insisting he will not send US ground troops.

Democrat Senator Ben Cardin said he supported the president's strategy and repeated the administration's argument the best way to stop Islamic State was for Iraq to develop a stronger, more-inclusive government.

http://news.sky.com/story/1316441/more-iraq-airstrikes-amid-us-homeland-threat