“This is going to be a long-term project,” United States President Barack Obama said Saturday about air strikes he recently authorized and actually commenced on Islamic militants rampaging across communities in northern Iraq.

The statement was meant to prepare Americans and American military forces for a longer engagement in Iraq that involved dropping of humanitarian aid for Iraqi civilians stranded in the desert and mountains, and combat air operations against militants belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

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Speaking in a press conference at the South Lawn of the White House, President Obama said the U.S. is prepared to continue with air strikes in order to protect American citizens and Iraqi civilians from being attacked by ISIS terrorists.

In his speech, Obama revealed a three-part strategy for increased involvement in Iraq, from which American ground forces withdrew in 2011. He said the immediate goals of this “long-term project” are to help civilians who fled from communities overrun by ISIS, provide them safe passage to the region around Irbil, the Kurdish regional capital, and continue to help establish a functional national government.

The U.S. Navy has been largely involved in the Iraq operations since Friday, when cargo aircraft started dropping food and water for hundreds of Yazidi Iraqis stranded on Mount Sinjar, and fighter jets flew from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush dropped bombs and fired missiles into ISIS mortar positions and a convoy on the road to Irbil.

Obama did not give a specific timetable for his plan on Iraq, and said the U.S. will look for a broader response to the problem in that country.

"Even as we continue to deal with the immediate situation, we seek a broader solution," he said. "There's not going to be a U.S. military solution to this problem."

The president also reported that the United Kingdom and France have agreed to participate in the humanitarian effort, while acknowledging that providing "safe corridors" for those who face a potential “genocide” in Iraq may be difficult.

TagsBarack Obama, ISIS, Erbil