IS declared a “caliphate” straddling both countries, attacked minorities, posted videos of beheadings online and vowed to take the fight to the West.
That sparked what has been decried as a belated reaction from world powers, with US President Barack Obama this week outlining a strategy to stamp out the group.
– Over 150 US strikes –
The CIA put the number of fighters in IS ranks at 20,000 to 31,500 in Iraq and Syria, up to three times the previous estimate.
US aircraft have carried out more than 150 strikes in Iraq since early August, the latest coming on Friday in the area of the country’s largest dam, north of Mosul, in which two IS vehicles were destroyed, according to the US military.
Washington plans to help revamp the Iraqi army, which withered under the IS-led onslaught in June, and has announced it would fly combat aircraft from an airbase in the Kurdish regional capital Arbil.
Three years after the end of the nearly nine-year US military presence in Iraq, which some observers say birthed what is now IS, Obama has been careful to stress to the war weary American public that he would not send ground forces into combat.
Efforts also focus on tackling what is considered the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet, which has created more three million Syrian refugees and displaced up to 1.8 million in Iraq, with the continued conflict taking a daily toll.
Hollande, who flew to Iraq with 15 tonnes of aid on his plane, stopped in Arbil to visit displaced Christians in a camp.
France was quick to offer taking displaced Christians in, but Hollande said “the first duty we have is to fight against terrorism, it is not to give in to terrorism by drawing people” out of their homeland.
Germany, which has ruled out taking part in air strikes against IS, outlawed providing active support to IS, warning that the group poses a threat to Europe.
About The Author
