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Obama: Airstrikes in Iraq will continue for as long as 'necessary'

Iran Press TV

Sat Aug 9, 2014 5:17PM GMT

US President Barack Obama promises to continue airstrikes to prevent the advance of ISIL terrorists in northern Iraq where American diplomats are stationed.

Speaking in his weekly address on Saturday, Obama said that airstrikes will go on for as long as "necessary" to protect both US personnel and religious minorities who are trapped on a mountain by the militants.

'Wherever and whenever US personnel or facilities are threatened, it is my obligation ... to make sure they're protected,' he said.

The US president did not present a specific timeline on how long the air campaign would last. 'I'm not going to give a particular timetable.'

'I don't think we are going to solve this problem in weeks,' he said. 'I think this is going to take some time.'

However, Obama said he would not allow the US to be dragged into another war in Iraq and ruled out American ground troops in the country.

'American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq, because there's no American military solution to the larger crisis there,' he said.

'We are going to maintain that because we should have learned a lesson from our long and immensely costly incursion into Iraq,' Obama stated.

The US president reiterated calls for Iraq to form a "legitimate" unity government in order to effectively counter the threat presented by ISIL militants.'In the absence of an Iraqi government, it is very difficult to get a unified effort of Iraqis against ISIL.'

'The nature of this problem is not one that the US military can solve,' he said. 'We can assist ... [but] we can't do it for them.'

Obama said he will not close the US Embassy in Baghdad or the consulate in Erbil, which means American troops and diplomats will remain on the ground.

ISIL militants shocked the US intelligence with the fast pace of their approach on the Kurdish capital of Erbil.

As many as 40,000 Iraqis belonging to the Kurdish minority Yazidi are at risk of dying from dehydration and starvation atop Mount Sinjar as militants have vowed to kill them if they descended.

ISIL terrorists have terrorized entire communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Yazidis and others, as they continue their advances in Iraq.

HRJ/GJH/HRJ