Iraq Reveals Openness To Obama Administration To Allow US Airstrikes Against Al Qaeda, Say US Officials

Iraq Attack_June11_2014 — A burnt vehicle belonging to Iraqi security forces is pictured at a checkpoint in east Mosul, one day after radical Sunni Muslim insurgents seized control of the city, June 11, 2014. Sunni insurgents from an al Qaeda splinter group extended their control from the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday to an area further south that includes Iraq's biggest oil refinery in a devastating show of strength against the Shi'ite-led government. Reuters

Iraq has privately revealed to the Obama administration that it would allow the United States to carry out airstrikes with drones or manned aircraft against al Qaeda targets on Iraqi territory, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to a senior U.S. official, the Obama administration is considering various options, including possibly providing "kinetic support" for the Iraqi military fighting al Qaeda militants who seized two major cities north of Baghdad this week. The official added that no decisions have been made, the Journal said.

Officials declined to say whether the United States would perhaps use airstrikes with drones or manned aircraft.

Iraq has long asked the U.S. to arm it with drones that could be used for attacks, yet Washington has balked at supplying them, officials said, according to the Journal.

Iraq Terrorism Al-Qaeda