Smoke rises over the desert near Arbil in northern Iraq, the aftermath of an attack by US aircraft on artillery controlled by Islamic State militants threatening to take the Kurdish capital and claim it for themselves.
..not far away, a mad dash as hundreds of ethnic Yazidis grab their share of a humanitarian aid drop from Iraqi forces in the Sinjar mountains.
The minority Yazidis have been forced to flee the militants, as they rampage through the desert, trying to carve out a new, fundamentalist state in northern Iraq.
But in the mountains, while the Yazidis may be safe - at least temporarily - there is no food or water.
(natsot)
The aid drop came just hours after U.S. President Barack Obama authorized military airstrikes in Iraq in what the White House says was an operation designed to protect U.S. personnel, and prevent "a potential act of genocide."
SOUNDBITE) (English) WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JOSH EARNEST SAYING:
"The artillery positio
