Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Rations ... Iraqi Yazidi families who fled the violence are given food at a school where they are taking shelter. Source: AFP Source: AFP

Mr Abbott said the terrorist group Islamic State, formerly known as ISIL or ISIS, had emerged as a major threat in Syria and Iraq.

“If it is allowed to succeed in carving out a terrorist state in the Middle East it will also pose a significant threat to international security,” Mr Abbott said.

He understood the air strikes were intended to support US personnel located in Erbil and also to break the ISIL siege of Sinjar.

“The Australian government is extremely concerned by the threat posed by ISIL and the even greater threat it will pose if it succeeds in its latest offensive,” Mr Abbott said.

“Therefore we strongly support President Obama’s course of action.”

He said it was no longer an evil terrorist group but a “highly potent insurgent army” capable of holding territory, imposing its “abhorrent form of government” and forging alliances with other extremist organisations.

Mr Abbott’s comments come after President Obama said: “America is coming to help.”

“We can act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide,” the president told a gathering of journalists at the White House, referring to the attacks against the besieged Yazidi and Christian minorities.

“I therefore authorised targeted air strikes if necessary to help forces in Iraq as they fight to break the siege and protect the civilians trapped there,” he said.

President Obama, who did not say whether air strikes have been carried out, said US forces have already started to drop food and water to Iraqis racing to flee the so-called Islamic State fighters.

“Earlier this week, one Iraqi in the area cried to the world, there is no one coming to help. Well, today America is coming to help,” he said.

Strikes authorised ... President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Iraq. Picture: AP Source: AP

“When we face a situation like we do on that mountain, with innocent people facing the prospect of violence on a horrific scale, when we have a mandate to help — in this case a request from the Iraqi government — and when we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then I believe the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye,” he said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also expressed his deep concern about the situation in Iraq and welcomed US President Barack Obama’s decision to authorise air strikes.

But a spokesman for Cameron’s Downing Street office said Britain, which joined the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, was not planning its own military intervention.

“I am extremely concerned by the appalling situation in Iraq and the desperate situation facing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis,” Cameron said in a statement.

“And I utterly condemn the barbaric attacks being waged by ISIL (ISIS, now Islamic State) terrorists across the region.” He added: “I welcome President Obama’s decision to accept the Iraqi government’s request for help and to conduct targeted US airstrikes, if necessary, to help Iraqi forces as they fight back against ISIL terrorists to free the civilians trapped on Mount Sinjar.

“And I fully agree with the president that we should stand up for the values we believe in -- the right to freedom and dignity, whatever your religious beliefs.” However, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “We are not planning a military intervention.”

Obama, who rose to political prominence as an outspoken critic of his predecessor George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, said he was not sending back ground forces.

“As commander in chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq.

“And so even as we support Iraqis as they take the fight to these terrorists, American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq, because there is no American military solution to the larger crisis in Iraq,” he said

American combat troops would not be returning to Iraq. The only military answer “on the ground”, he said, would have to be provided by Iraq’s government itself.

“We will pursue a strategy which empowers Iraqis,” he said.

“Theres no decision I take more seriously than the use of military force ... we have other tools, we can lead with the power of our diplomacy.”

Armed and ready ... US Navy F/A-18C Hornets parked aboard a US aircraft carrier. The US has stationed in the Persian Gulf an aircraft carrier, Navy ships armed with missiles and a detachment of 1000 Marines. Source: AP Source: AP

COMBAT CAPABILITY

US military sources state that missions have been flown by US Navy F-18 Hornet strike aircraft, US Air Force B-1 bombers and Predator drones over Iraq now for several weeks.

While previously limited to surveillance missions, the aircraft will now likely be armed.

Islamic State fighters do have shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles and other short-range anti-aircraft artillery, but strike aircraft only rarely fly low enough to be within their reach.

Most of the US firepower is centred on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George HW Bush and the cruiser and four destroyers in her escort. Also in company are a helicopter-carrying amphibious assault ship and a dock landing ship carrying up to 1000 Marines.

The Australian frigate HMAS Darwin is stationed just outside the Persian Gulf, in the Arabian Sea.

AIR MERCY MISSION

An emergency rescue mission is underway to feed up to 40,000 Iraqi refugees sent scurrying into remote mountains under threat of mass execution in the latest round of ethnic cleansing by Islamic jihadists.

The Iraqi ethnic Christian and Yazidis minorities have been the target of recent Islamic militant advances in the north of the troubled state, with many fleeing to mountaintops for refuge after being given the ultimatum: Convert or die.

Supply drop ... US airforce transport aircraft this morning delivered by air stocks of food and water for terrified Yazidi sect members hiding in mountains in the north of Iraq. Source: AFP Source: AFP

They are now reportedly running short of food and water, with all major paths and roads in and out of the region blocked.

Recent attempts by the Iraqi air force and Kurd Peshmurga troops to break the siege have failed.

In response, President Obama has this morning authorised humanitarian air drops in northern Iraq to ease the crisis.

Officials say relief aircraft were “already in the air” when the announcement was made.

The Pentagon said the airdrops were performed by one C-17 and two C-130 cargo aircraft that together delivered a total of 72 bundles of food and water. They were escorted by two F/A-18 fighters from an undisclosed air base in the region.

The planes delivered 20,000 litres of fresh drinking water and 8000 pre-packaged meals and were over the drop area for less than 15 minutes at a low altitude.

US military trainers stationed in the north of Iraq and are themselves threatened by the Islamic State ”caliphate”, whose fighters have recently made gains toward the Kurdish capital city of Erbil.

The US has a diplomatic consulate in Erbil as well as a military operations centre that was set up there recently to advise and assist the Iraqi military in that region.

Blockade ... Islamic State group militants and Tribal fighters take control of a checkpoint that used to be controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, as people leave a village outside Irbil, northern Iraq. Source: AP Source: AP

MILITANTS OVER — RUN RESISTANCE

In recent days, the Islamic State militants have swept through villages in the north that are home to religious minorities including a few thousand remaining Christians and up to 700,000 Yazidis, who follow an ancient religion with ties to one of the world’s oldest religions — Zoroastrianism. Furthering their gains, the extremists seized Iraq’s largest dam overnight, placing them in control of enormous power and water resources and access to the river that runs through the heart of Baghdad.

Fears are the jihadists will now alter the flow or foul the water — directly affecting up to 500,000 people.

The Islamic militants are reportedly using large numbers of captured US-supplied armoured vehicles in fast-moving sweeps through Iraqi government territory.

The northern town of Sinjar — one of the main centres of population for the Yazidi minority group — was stormed at the weekend. Up to 40,000 residents have fled to the nearby mountains for safety where they are now surrounded.

Fleeing tyranny ... An Iraqi Yazidi family that fled the violence in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, sit at a school where they are taking shelter in the Kurdish city of Dohuk. Source: AFP Source: AFP

They are now trapped in the summer heat without food, water or medical supplies. Dozens have already reportedly died.

While initially able to remain in contact with the outside world via mobile phone, their batteries have long since fbeen drained. Little word has come out of the area of their current condition.

Iraq’s largest Christian town, Qaraqosh, also fell to Islamic militants yesterday.

The 50,000 residents were given the same ultimatum Christians were issued with in the city of Mosul last week: “Leave, convert or die”.

Tens of thousands have since fled, almost emptying the region of members of the 1800-year-old sect.

On the run ... Displaced Iraqi Christians settle at St. Joseph Church in Irbil, northern Iraq, yesterday after fleeing Islamic State threats of “convert or die”. Source: AP Source: AP

RESCUE MISSION RATIONALE

While the White House did not publicly outline the range of military options under consideration, officials said the US strongly condemns the extremists’ assault on minorities.

“The situation is nearing a humanitarian catastrophe,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “We are gravely concerned for their health and safety.”

President Barack Obama met with his national security team this morning to discuss the crisis as the Islamic State caliphate continued to make gains.

Obama used the threat of an imminent humanitarian crisis as justification for limited US military action in Libya in 2010, as forces loyal to Muammar al-Gaddafi threatened a massacre in Benghazi. The US and NATO partners launched a bombing campaign over Libya, with Obama moving forward without congressional approval.