In this file photo taken Tuesday, May 13, 2014, an Iraqi policeman stands by burning vehicles moments after one in a series of bombs hit the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq. AP FILE PHOTO
BAGHDAD鈥擩ihadists pushed toward Baghdad on Friday as US President Barack Obama said he was exploring all options to save Iraq鈥檚 security forces from collapse and US companies evacuated hundreds from a major air base.
The Shiite-led government of Iraq鈥檚 Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki remained paralyzed, unable to form a coherent response after militants from the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant blitzed and captured entire chunks of the nation鈥檚 Sunni heartland this week, including major cities, towns, military and police bases as Iraqi forces melted away or fled.
With militants closing in on the capital, forces from Iraq鈥檚 autonomous Kurdish region took control of a swath of territory they have sought to rule for decades against the objections of successive governments in Baghdad.
Foreign Minister Hosyhar Zebari acknowledged that the security forces Washington invested billions of dollars in training and equipping before withdrawing its own troops in 2011 had simply melted away.
Obama said Iraq was going to need 鈥渕ore help from the United States and from the international community.鈥�
鈥淥ur national security team is looking at all the options 鈥� I don鈥檛 rule out anything,鈥� he said.
Western failure
Russia said the lightning gains by the Islamic State, a movement so radical it has been disavowed even by al-Qaida鈥檚 leadership, showed the pointlessness of the 2003 US-led invasion, carried out in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
Washington found rare common cause with its longtime foe Tehran, with both voicing dismay at the Sunni extremists鈥� advance and pledging to boost aid to Maliki, who is a Shiite.
The militants, who have swept up a huge swath of predominantly Sunni Arab territory in northern and north-central Iraq since launching their offensive in the second city Mosul late Monday, advanced into ethnically divided Diyala province.
Kurds step into breach听听听听
On Friday, the militants were fighting progovernment forces near Muqdadiyah, just 80 kilometers听 from the Baghdad city limits.
Diyala鈥檚 mixed Arab, Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite population has made the province a byword for violence ever since the 2003 overthrow of Sunni Arab dictator Saddam Hussein.
Kurdish security forces moved into the strategic Sadiyah and Jalaula districts of the province overnight after the army withdrew, Deputy Gov. Furat al-Tamimi said.
Kurdish forces already took control of the ethnically divided northern oil city of Kirkuk on Thursday when central government troops pulled out.
It has been the fulfillment of a decades-old Kurdish ambition, opposed by successive governments in Baghdad, to expand their autonomous region in the north to incorporate a swath of historically Kurdish-majority territory across northern and north-central Iraq.
Government paralyzed
Maliki鈥檚 government has been left floundering by the speed of the jihadist assault.
The swift collapse of Baghdad鈥檚 control comes on top of the loss of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, earlier this year. It has been a blow for Western governments that have paid a steep price both in lives and money in Iraq.
The Iraqi foreign minister acknowledged the collapse of the security forces in Mosul and other cities, with many personnel melting away after discarding their uniforms.
鈥淚t is a setback definitely for the Iraqi security forces, who collapsed in the largest city and abandoned their weapons and equipment,鈥� he said.
US mulls drone strikes听听听
Washington is considering several options for offering military assistance to Baghdad, including drone strikes, a US official told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity.
Resorting to the unmanned aircraft鈥攗sed in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen in a highly controversial program鈥攚ould mark a dramatic shift in the US engagement in Iraq, after the last American troops pulled out in late 2011.
But there is no current plan to send ground troops back into Iraq, where around 4,500 American soldiers died during the conflict.
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US evacuation
US companies were evacuating 鈥渁 few hundred鈥� American contractors working with the Iraqi government from Balad air base, 70 km north of the capital, a US defense official said.
The contractors 鈥渁re being temporarily relocated by their companies due to security concerns in the area,鈥� US state department spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the spectacular collapse of the Western-trained Iraqi Army illustrated 鈥渢he total failure of the adventure involving the United States and Britain.鈥�
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鈥楬ell on earth鈥�
And Obama鈥檚 Republican opponents in Congress were swift to accuse the president of abandoning Iraq by pulling out US troops in 2011.
Sen. Lindsey Graham warned a jihadist takeover in both Iraq and neighboring Syria would create a 鈥渉ell on earth鈥� and called for the urgent deployment of US air power to 鈥渃hange the battlefield equation.鈥�
Turkey said it was holding talks to secure the release of dozens of its citizens kidnapped by Islamist militants in northern Iraq amid international calls for their release.
The UN Security Council demanded urgent dialogue and condemned 鈥渢errorist鈥� activities, but stopped short of considering action against the militants.
As many as half a million people have fled the jihadist offensive and the World Food Program said it had started providing assistance to 42,000 of the most vulnerable. Reports from AFP and AP
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