The U.S. military used a mix of jet fighters and unmanned drones to conduct four more airstrikes in defense of Iraqi civilians being threatened by Sunni militants, U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Saturday.
At around 11:20 a.m. Eastern, an air strike destroyed an ISIS armored personnel carrier near Sinjar that had threatened Yazidi civilians, the small religious sect now trapped on a mountaintop trying to escape possible genocide.
Later in the day, aircraft attacked three more APCs and an armored truck in the same area. Centcom reported that all were "successful in destroying their intended targets."
This latest series of strikes comes following a statement from the White House on Saturday, in which President Obama hinted that the air campaign would go on for quite some time.
"This will be a long-term project," Obama said. The president refused to offer any time table for military operations, he said, so that he could protect Americans "wherever and whenever" they are threatened.
The White House has stressed it has two goals in Iraq: protect Americans currently on the ground in Erbil, and help the approximately 40,000 Yazidi civilians currently trapped. "We're not moving our embassy any time soon, we're not moving our consulate any time soon," Obama said.