Obama orders limited airstrikes in violence-stricken Iraq

U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered American warplanes back into Iraq. Paul,... Obama has finally pulled the trigger and granted Baghdad's request for air support,... but at the same time stressed the U.S. would take... what he described as "limited military action." That's right. In a rather surprising announcement, President Obama said on Friday that he authorized the Pentagon to launch targeted airstrikes in Iraq... to help thousands of trapped civilians with food drops... and to stem the rapid advance of Islamic militants. Our Connie Lee has the details. It's a green light to help those being persecuted in Iraq-- In a televised address Thursday,... U.S. President Barack Obama ordered two separate operations in Iraq-- in his awords, targeted airstrikes... to protect U.S. personnel in Iraq... and humanitarian efforts consisting of air drops to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped in the mountains,... and facing almost certain death. The Islamic militant group, ISIS, is gaining ground in northern Iraq, most recently seizing the largest Christian town of Qaraqosh, and forcing tens and thousands of Christians and ethnic minorities to flee. The United Nations says about 40-thousand of them are trapped in northern mountains. They've been ordered by militants to convert to Islam, or face execution. "Women and children are being killed. We cannot get help. I have four children and I don't know where they are. Two have disappeared and I don't know what happened to the other two." Mass killings of religious and ethnic minorities are reportedly taking place, with militants even beheading children-- this according to one Christian leader in Iraq, speaking to CNN. The United Nations Security Council, after an emergency meeting on the situation Thursday, condemned the attacks, and called on the international community to support Iraq. Just in the past two days alone, ISIS militants, with their black flags, have taken over six towns in the north of the country. Connie Lee, Arirang News.