The American airstrikes that began last week in Iraq may not break the stride of Islamist insurgent group ISIS in Iraq and Syria, a senior U.S. military official said Monday. Although Lt. Gen. William Mayville, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the strikes may have had a “temporary effect,” he did not want to suggest “that we are somehow breaking the momentum of the threat posed by ISIL," another acronym for ISIS. Mayville said the focus remained on protecting U.S. citizens and facilities and on breaking up ISIS forces who have trapped thousands of religious minorities in the Sinjar Mountains in Iraq.
