Iraqi, Kurdish Officials Welcome U.S. Airdrops

Iraqi displaced women

Thousands of displaced Iraqis fled their camp in the face of advancing fighters of the Islamic State group, deepening the humanitarian crisis in the north of the country as the United States carried out its first airstrikes against the militants to blunt their assault.

The Khazer Camp stood empty Friday, located near the front lines of battles between the militants and Kurdish fighters. The camp had been populated by Iraqis who fled their cities and towns as they were taken over by Islamic State fighters in past weeks, and in the past few days they have been forced to flee again.

The militants have been making a push from their strongholds in northwest Iraq toward Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous zone. For days the two sides have been battling each other over a river at a destroyed bridge on the main road 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Irbil.

The U.S. airstrikes and humanitarian air drops reflect the deepest American engagement in Iraq since U.S. troops withdrew in late 2011, after nearly a decade of war. The move pointed to the growing crisis sparked by the Sunni radical group’s advances.

Expanding from their stronghold of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, the militants have captured a string of surrounding towns and even the country’s largest hydroelectric dam and reservoir in recent weeks, solidifying their hold.

Ethnic and religious minorities in particular have fled in fear as their towns fall.

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