Kurdish Forces Take Back Two Towns Occupied by Militants in Iraq – Reports

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 Kurdish forces have regained control of two towns in northern Iraq seized by Islamic State militants, Agence France-Presse reported on Sunday.

"The Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) have liberated Makhmur and Gwer," Peshmerga spokesman Halgord Hekmat told AFP.

Hekmat said "US aerial support helped” to liberate the towns. Representatives of the regional authorities also confirmed that the Kurdish troops had recaptured the towns following fierce battles.
Late on Thursday, US President Barack Obama gave the green light to US airstrikes targeting positions of Islamic State (IS) militants fighting in Iraq against Kurdish forces defending the city of Erbil. The President also authorized humanitarian aid to Yezidi Kurds who, as Obama stated, face “genocide.” Several airstrikes have been conducted over the past few days.
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US Airstrikes on Militants in Iraq Open Door to Disastrous Consequences - Analyst

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US airstrikes on militants from the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq risk escalating the country’s civil war with “disastrous unintended consequences”, anti-war campaigner Kevin Martin told RIA Novosti Friday.
“The spreading of the violent civil war in Iraq has President Obama considering military strikes, along with air drops of food, water and medicine to beleaguered Yazidi and other persecuted minorities stranded on a mountain top in northern Iraq, besieged by the ISIS fighters,” said Martin, executive director of Peace Action.