--- title: Pentagon Denies Reports of Airstrikes on ISIS Militants in Iraq description: Also claims reports the U.S. had begun humanitarian air drops to people in need in northern Iraq are false canonical: https://time.com/3089232/pentagon-isis-iraq-airdrop/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-07T17:03:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:33:17.780Z article:section: World og:title: Pentagon Denies Reports of Airstrikes on ISIS Militants in Iraq og:description: Also claims reports the U.S. had begun humanitarian air drops to people in need in northern Iraq are false og:url: https://time.com/3089232/pentagon-isis-iraq-airdrop/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d8e9a96a764a789/69869ebb06f2c1d5683303b6/yazidi-isis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Thousands flee Iraq's Mosul og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pentagon Denies Reports of Airstrikes on ISIS Militants in Iraq twitter:description: Also claims reports the U.S. had begun humanitarian air drops to people in need in northern Iraq are false twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d8e9a96a764a789/69869ebb06f2c1d5683303b6/yazidi-isis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pentagon Denies Reports of Airstrikes on ISIS Militants in Iraq ## Video: How Iraqi Kurdistan is Battling ISIS So We Don’t Have To [Watch (HLS stream): How Iraqi Kurdistan is Battling ISIS So We Don’t Have To](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Y8Kt8K9r.m3u8) (3:26)  _Published 2014-08-05. How Iraqi Kurdistan is Battling ISIS So we Don’t Have Too_  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Aug 7, 2014 5:03 PM CUT  Thousands of Yazidi and Christian people flee Hamdaniyah town of Mosul to Erbil after the latest wave of ISIL advances that began on Sunday has seen a number of towns near Iraq's second largest city Mosul fall to the militants on August 6, 2014. Thousands of Yazidi and Christian people flee Hamdaniyah town of Mosul to Erbil after the latest wave of ISIL advances that began on Sunday has seen a number of towns near Iraq's second largest city Mosul fall to the militants on August 6, 2014.Mustafa Kerim—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Aug 7, 2014 5:03 PM CUT _Updated 6:13 p.m. E.T._ The Pentagon denied reports Thursday that it had begun conducting airstrikes on Sunni targets in Iraq or humanitarian air drops to thousands of members of a persecuted religious minority under siege from militants in the northwest of the country. The New York _Times_, citing Kurdish [officials](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/american-forces-said-to-bomb-isis-targets-in-iraq.html "undefined"), reported that U.S. forces bombed at least two targets in northern Iraq. The McClatchy news agency also [reported](http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/08/07/235716/islamic-state-pushes-back-kurdish.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1 "undefined") aerial bombings outside the town of Kalak in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, [stating](http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/08/07/235716/islamic-state-pushes-back-kurdish.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1 "undefined") that Kurdish media had described jets as American bombers. But the Pentagon press secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/PentagonPresSec/status/497488631599464448 "undefined") that the press reports were “completely false.” The Pentagon also denied a [report](http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-begins-humanitarian-airdrops-iraq/story?id=24884633 "undefined"), by ABC News, that the U.S. had begun humanitarian air drops to people in need in northern Iraq. Earlier on Thursday, a defense official told TIME that the Iraqi government had begun airdrops in northern Iraq and that it was considering providing “direct assistance wherever possible.” Multiple news outlets, including CBS News and the New York _Times_, reported Thursday that airdrops or airstrikes were among the options under consideration. Thousands of people from the Yazidi minority—considered “devil worshippers” by the advancing Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS)—have fled their homes in the Sinjar region in northwestern Iraq and are holed up in mountains around the town of Sinjar, [according to the United Nations](http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48418#.U-OqnoBdUp8 "undefined"), where they face dehydration and hunger. The UN said on Tuesday that some 40 children have died. “According to official reports received by UNICEF, these children from the Yazidi minority died as a direct consequence of violence, displacement and dehydration over the past two days.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3089232/pentagon-isis-iraq-airdrop/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3089232/pentagon-isis-iraq-airdrop/"},"headline":"Pentagon Denies Reports of Airstrikes on ISIS Militants in Iraq","datePublished":"2014-08-07T17:03:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:33:17.780Z","description":"Also claims reports the U.S. had begun humanitarian air drops to people in need in northern Iraq are false","url":"https://time.com/3089232/pentagon-isis-iraq-airdrop/","keywords":["Iraq","Military","White House","ISIS","Pentagon","President Barack Obama","Islamic State"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d8e9a96a764a789/69869ebb06f2c1d5683303b6/yazidi-isis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d8e9a96a764a789/69869ebb06f2c1d5683303b6/yazidi-isis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Thousands flee Iraq's Mosul","caption":"Thousands flee Iraq's Mosul","creditText":"Mustafa Kerim—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iraq/","name":"Iraq"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3089232/pentagon-isis-iraq-airdrop/","name":"Pentagon Denies Reports of Airstrikes on ISIS Militants in Iraq"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Iraqi Kurdistan is Battling ISIS So We Don’t Have To","description":"How Iraqi Kurdistan is Battling ISIS So we Don’t Have Too","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Y8Kt8K9r/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-05T19:04:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Y8Kt8K9r.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3089232/pentagon-isis-iraq-airdrop/","duration":"PT3M26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3089232/pentagon-isis-iraq-airdrop/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```