US expands air strikes in Iraq

• US not serious in fight against ISIS, says Iran
• Confront ISIS militarily and politically: Arab League Chief

Baghdad: Washington said on Sunday that it had carried out air strikes against jihadists in Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland, expanding its month-long air campaign and its involvement in the conflict.

It was a significant escalation for President Barack Obama, who made his political career opposing the war in Iraq and pulled out US troops in 2011. Previous strikes since Obama launched the US air campaign on August 8 had been mainly in support of Kurdish forces in the north.

US warplanes bombed Islamic State jihadists around Haditha dam on the Euphrates River an area that the jihadists have repeatedly tried to capture from government troops and their Sunni militia allies.

"We conducted these strikes to prevent terrorists from further threatening the security of the dam, which remains under control of Iraqi security forces, with support from Sunni tribes," Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

"The potential loss of control of the dam or a catastrophic failure of the dam and the flooding that might result would have threatened US personnel and facilities in and around Baghdad, as well as thousands of Iraqi citizens," he added.

Meanwhile, Iran accused the US of not taking the threat from Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria seriously, and charged that US aid had previously helped the jihadists.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi called for a military and political confrontation with Islamic State jihadists and other militants he said threatened the existence of Arab states.