After breaking the siege against the Iraqi Yazidi people atop Mount Sinjar, the Iraqi army and the U.S. air force have set off on a new mission — hitting Sunni militants who have besieged the Shiite Turkmen at the town of Amirli for two months.

Shiite militiamen patrol in Amirli, 105 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014 – Photo: AP

Iraqi forces already made an incursion into the 12,000-person town on Sunday, backed by precise U.S. airstrikes.

“Amirli has been liberated,” said Mahdi Taqi, a member of the provincial council, speaking with The Washington Post. “We resisted these people and we won. Now all we need is food and water.”

Meanwhile, former commander in chief of U.S. Central Command, Anthony Zinni, said the U.S. should not rule out putting “boots on the ground” to fight the Islamic State (ISIS).

“Very simply put, if you put two brigades on the ground right now of U.S. forces, they would push ISIS back into Syria in a heartbeat. And probably take less time, less cost and, I think in the long run, fewer casualties overall,” said Zinni.

Even Australia joined the battle, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott acceding the U.S. request to help drop weapons and munitions to Kurdish fighters, who are at the front lines against ISIS.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian media reported on Sunday that Jordan had handed secret intelligence over to NATO with details about infiltrations of ISIS fighters into Jordanian territory through its borders with Syria and Iraq. The British ambassador to Jordan, Peter Millett, said the U.K. and NATO were prepared to assist Jordan in dealing with the dangers posed by ISIS.

Meanwhile, it appears as though ISIS is beheading their own people as well. Such was the fate of Abu Obeida al-Maghrebi, who was until recently commanding the prison in which American journalist James Foley, whose beheading was filmed by ISIS, was also being held.

Members of ISIS apparently suspected, according to reports, that Maghrebi passed information along to British intelligence agency MI6.

View original Israel Hayom publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=19793