U.S. airstrikes helped Kurdish and Iraqi forces take control of Mosul Dam on Monday, fighting back ISIS militants who had seized the dam, President Obama told reporters. The stakes were huge for the millions of Iraqis who live downstream from the dam, the largest in the country. "If that dam was breached it could have proven catastrophic, with floods that would have threatened the lives of thousands of civilians and endangered our embassy compound in Baghdad," the President said. The dam has been the center of an intense battle in northern Iraq between the Islamic extremists and Kurdish forces that had been  fighting to retake it since Saturday with U.S. air support.
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U.S. airstrikes destroy 90 targets in Mosul dam fight, Pentagon says
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Ridding Iraq of ISIS forces a must for U.S., expert says
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ISIS threatens "America will disappear from map"
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Dam battle shows Kurdish, Iraqi forces can take the fight to ISIS, President Obama says
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