US airdrops food, water to Iraqi civilians

US military planes dropped containers with water and thousands of meals to civilians fleeing jihadist violence in Iraq, the Pentagon said Saturday. US fighter planes escorted one C-17 and two C-130 cargo planes that dropped 72 bundles of supplies to "thousands of Iraqi citizens threatened by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Mount Sinjar, Iraq," the Pentagon said. The bundles included 3,804 gallons of drinking water and more than 16,000 packaged meals. "To date, in coordination with the government of Iraq, US military aircraft have delivered 52,000 meals and 10,600 gallons of fresh drinking water, providing much-needed aid to Iraqis who urgently require emergency assistance," the Pentagon said. The United States has also conducted multiple air strikes since Friday, and announced a wave of strikes Saturday it said were to defend attacks on members of the Yazidi minority, who have been stranded on Mount Sinjar since they fled Islamic State attacks on their homes a week ago. France and Britain announced that aid consignments of their own were imminent.