STRATEGIC

U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq Target Key Dam

To retake it from ISIS militants.

Saturday brought another round of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, this time in a joint operation with Iraqi and Kurdish troops to recapture a strategic dam from ISIS militants. Mosul Dam is Iraq’s largest hydroelectric facility, according to a senior U.S. official, and has given the militants control over water and electricity in a large area of northern Iraq. U.S. Fighter jets and armed drones provided cover for the Iraqi and Kurdish forces on the ground fighting to retake the dam. Meanwhile, on Friday, a Yazidi lawmaker and two Kurdish officials said ISIS massacred 80 members of the Yazidi religious minority and kidnapped the women of a village in northern Iraq.