BAGHDAD: The United States said it launched airstrikes against ISIS threatening the Haditha Dam in western Iraq Sunday, broadening its campaign against the fighters.

 

It was Washington’s first offensive into Iraq’s western Anbar province since it started airstrikes on ISIS forces in the north of the country in August.

 

“At the request of the Government of Iraq, the U.S. military today conducted coordinated airstrikes against ISIS terrorists in the vicinity of the Haditha Dam in Anbar province,” 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 U.S. personnel and facilities in and around Baghdad, as well as thousands of Iraqi citizens,” he added.

 

The leader of a pro-Iraqi government paramilitary force in the west said the strikes wiped out an ISIS patrol trying to attack the dam – the country’s second biggest hydroelectric facility which also provides millions with water. “They [the airstrikes] were very accurate. There was no collateral damage,” Sheikh Ahmad Abu Risha said.

 

Iraq then moved to take advantage of the strikes, launching a drive against militants in the Haditha area and regaining ground.

 

“Joint forces backed by air support and tribesmen launched a wide attack to clear the areas surrounding the Haditha district,” security spokesman Lieutenant General Qassem Atta said.

 

The troops and militia retook the town of Barwana, east of Haditha, from the jihadists, who left their weapons and vehicles in their retreat, an AFP correspondent reported.

 

They lowered the black ISIS banner from the town’s main checkpoint and raised the Iraqi flag.

 

The victory was marred, however, when a mortar round slammed into the town, wounding Anbar Governor Ahmad al-Dulaimi as well as Abdul-Hakim al-Jughaifi, the administrative official responsible for Haditha, and seven soldiers.

 

A suicide bomber then struck the convoy carrying Dulaimi to a nearby hospital, killing a soldier and wounding six.

 

The only previous American strikes against the militants outside of northern Iraq were carried out in support of an operation by the army, Shiite militia and Kurdish fighters to break a monthslong siege of the Shiite Turkmen town of Amirli, north of Baghdad.

 

Dams have been a key target for the jihadists, and there has been major fighting around Iraq’s largest dam, on the Tigris River north of militant-held second city Mosul, which has been a major focus of the U.S. air campaign.

 

The Haditha and Mosul dams are important sources of both power and irrigation water for farmers.

 

Sustained U.S. strikes could provide a major boost to pro-government forces in Anbar, where all of one city and chunks of another have been out of state control for over nine months, along with other areas seized by militants since June.

 

Kurdish forces in the north have been bolstered by American strikes and recently took control of Mount Zardak, a strategic site east of Mosul that provides a commanding view of the surrounding area, a senior officer said.On the political front, meanwhile, parliament is scheduled to be convened Monday night to vote on Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi’s proposed Cabinet, the parliament speaker Selim al-Jabouri’s office said Sunday.

 

State television also reported the tentative plan to hold the session. The approval of the Cabinet could still be delayed amid last-minute wrangling and brinkmanship over posts.

 

The makeup of the Cabinet has still not been revealed, but Abadi is expected to include representatives of all the country’s religious and ethnic components in a bid to save Iraq from collapse.

 

The prime minister-designate was picked on Aug. 11 as a replacement for outgoing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who dropped his bid for a third term after Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political blocs rejected him.

 

Abadi has until Sept. 10 to submit his government for approval, or Iraq’s president must select another candidate for premier.

 

Maliki, who won the most votes of any candidate in April’s national election, was undone by ISIS’ seizure of large swaths of northern Iraq and the almost total collapse of the military almost three months ago.