President Obama to take several days to decide how to help fight Iraq insurgency

US president Barack Obama will take several days to review options for how the United States can help Iraq deal with a militant insurgency, saying any action would need significant involvement by Iraq itself.

US president Barack Obama will take several days to review options for how the United States can help Iraq deal with a militant insurgency, saying any action would need significant involvement by Iraq itself.
However, Mr Obama again made it very clear that he would no send US troops back into combat in Iraq.

"The United States is not simply going involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they are prepared to work together," he said.

Speaking at the White House, president Obama said the threat by militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq poses a danger to the people of Iraq and also, potentially Americans.

"This is a regional problem, and it is going to be a long-term problem," he said.

"What we're going to have to do is combine selective actions by our military to make sure that we're going after terrorists who could harm our personnel overseas or eventually hit the homeland."

President Obama added the insurgency so far has not caused major disruptions to oil supplies from Iraq, but if insurgents took control of refineries, other oil producers in the Middle East would need to help 'pick up the slack'.

"That will be part of the consultations that will be taking place during the course of this week," he said

Senior Shiite cleric calls on Iraqis to take up arms
Earlier Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged his followers to take up arms to defend themselves against a relentless advance by Sunni militants, in a sharp escalation of a conflict that is threatening civil war and the potential break-up of the country.

The development comes after the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captured two more Iraqi towns in a relentless sweep south towards the capital Baghdad in a campaign to recreate a medieval caliphate carved out of fragmenting Iraq and Syria.

Thrusting further to the south-east after their seizure of the major city of Mosul in the far north and the late dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, ISIS entered two towns in Diyala province bordering Iran.

Saadiyah and Jalawla had fallen to the insurgents after government troops fled their positions, along with several villages around the Himreen mountains that have long been a hideout for militants, security sources said.

Iraqi army fired artillery shells at Saadiyah and Jalawla from the nearby town of Muqdadiya, sending dozens of families fleeing towards Khaniqin near the Iranian border.

In Tikrit, Iraqi army helicopters fired rockets on one of the largest mosques in the city, local officials and witnesses said. It was unclear if there were any casualties.

Earlier, Iraqi Kurdish forces seized control of Kirkuk - an oil hub just outside their autonomous enclave that they have long seen as their traditional capital - as Iraqi government troops abandoned posts in panic over ISIS's advance.

n a rare intervention at Friday prayers in the holy city of Kerbala, a message from Mr Sistani, who is the highest religious authority for the Shiites in Iraq, said people should unite to fight back against advancing ISIS militants.

"Citizens who are able to bear arms and fight terrorists, defending their country and their people and their holy places, should volunteer and join the security forces to achieve this holy purpose," a representative for Mr Sistani said.

Those killed fighting ISIS militants would be martyrs, he said as worshippers chanted in acknowledgement.

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