WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama urged the Americans to be ready for a “long-term” engagement in Iraq as his military expanded its Iraq air campaign over the weekend to beat back militants.

“I don’t think we’re going to solve this problem in weeks … I think this is going to take some time,” Mr Obama told the White House press corps. “This is going to be a long-term project.”

Fighter jets and drones struck IS fighters near the northern town of Sinjar, where extremists had killed more than 500 members of the Yazidi religious minority.

Officials said US air strikes had so far killed more than 20 extremists of the group called IS.

The US military conducted a third airdrop of food and water on Sunday for thousands of Iraqi citizens threatened by the insurgents on Mount Sinjar in Iraq.

During the weekend, President Obama consulted key world leaders, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande, on the developments in Iraq. The leaders underscored the serious threat the IS “poses to all Iraqi communities throughout the country, and discussed the need to support the Iraqis by increasing their ability to counter these extremists,” the White House said.

Mr Obama also spoke to King Abdullah of Jordan and they discussed “the risks to the region from the IS and other extremist groups, and the importance of supporting an inclusive Iraqi political process,” the White House said.

US Vice President Biden called Iraqi President Fuad Masum to discuss US military operations in northern Iraq and the ongoing government formation process in Baghdad.

He reiterated President Obama’s commitment to “bolster Iraq’s ability to take the fight to the IS”, the White House said.

Earlier, Mr Biden spoke to Kurdistan Regional President Masoud Barzani and offered similar assurances.

Mr Obama assured the war-weary Americans that the US military intervention would not go beyond air strikes as he had no intentions of sending ground troops back to Iraq more than three years after their withdrawal.

Mr Obama also sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, identifying his objectives.

The military operations, he said, would be limited in their scope and duration as necessary to protect American personnel in Iraq by stopping the current advance on Erbil by the terrorist group IS and to help forces in Iraq fighting to break the siege of Mount Sinjar and protect the civilians trapped there.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2014