U.S.A. starts air strikes in Iraq (N.America)
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The USA has started targeting forces of the Islamic State (IS) in northern Iraq. Several US air strikes have taken out heavy weaponry that the Islamic State captured from the Iraqi army. President Obama said the new attacks are to protect American residents in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. IS recently changed its name from ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). The group now controls a quarter of Iraq (including the country's largest dam), and a third of Syria. Mr Obama made it clear that there would be no boots on the ground. He said: "Even as we support Iraqis as they take the fight to these terrorists, American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq."
Another reason for the air strikes on the IS is to protect Iraq's Yazidi people and other minority groups. The Yazidis are ethnically Kurdish. Their religion includes elements of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism. The IS told the Yazidis to convert to Islam, pay a tax, or face death. Earlier this week the UN warned of a humanitarian catastrophe with the possibility of ethnic cleansing at the hands of the IS. The IS have reportedly taken hundreds of Yazidi women hostage. Obama said the latest US military action is also, "a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of [Yazidis] who are trapped on a mountain without food and water and facing almost certain death".
1. TRUE / FALSE:Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).
a.The USA and Britain has started bombing the IS group in Iraq.T / F
b.Barack Obama said he wants to protect U.S. residents in Iraq.T / F
c.The group IS used to be called ISIS and ISIL.T / F
d.Barack Obama has not ruled out sending troops into Iraq.T / F
e.The air strikes are to help the IS stop attacking minority groups.T / F
f.The IS said the Yazidis must choose between Islam, tax or death.T / F
g.Reports are that thousands of Yazidi women have been kidnapped.T / F
h.A million Yazidi people have been trapped by the IS.T / F
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1.What did U.S. air strikes destroy?
2.Who does President Obama want to protect in Erbil?
3.How much of Iraq does the IS control?
4.What did President Obama say there would not be on the ground?
5.Who did President Obama say would not be fighting in Iraq?
6.Which other groups does the U.S. want to protect besides the Yazidis?
7.What ethnic background are the Yazidis?
8.What did the UN warn of?
9.Who has reportedly been taken hostage by the IS?
10.Where are thousands of Yazidis trapped?
答案
TRUE / FALSE
a F b T c T d F e T f T g F h F
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1.Heavy weaponry
2.U.S. citizens
3.A quarter
4.Boots
5.American combat troops
6.Minority groups
7.Kurdish
8.A humanitarian crisis
9.Hundreds of Yazidi women
10.On a mountain
