Airstrikes protect dam

The U.S. launches airstrikes to protect the Haditha dam. The dam is located in Anbar province in the country’s west, where local volunteers are fighting to prevent a takeover by ISIS. Defense Secretary Hagel:

If militants seize the dam or if that dam would be destroyed, the damage that that would cause would be very significant and it would put a significant additional and big risk into the mix in Iraq.

He says the strikes don’t represent an expansion of U.S. military operations.