(VOVworld) – The US government has no intention to expand air strike operations in Iraq more than self-defense actions, said Lieutenant-General William Mayville, a Pentagon offical on Monday.

US airdrops are aimed at religious and ethnic minorities fleeing advancing IS militants in northern Iraq. (Photo: Reuteurs)

Lieutenant-General Mayville said the US’s current military operations in Iraq are to protect US citizens, facilities, and airplanes dropping out humanitarian aids. The air strikes are also to help the Iraqi army break the siege on Sinjar Mountain, where Islamic State (IS) militants have threatened to kill thousands of Yazidi minorities. Mayville said although US air strikes have temporarily stopped the IS’s advance to Arbil City, they could not stop the attacks in other regions in Iraq and Syria. The US has started to providing weapons for Kurdish security forces in Iraq, in an effort to help Iraq in the fight with IS gunmen.