U.S. officials said Monday the United States has taken the first step in its planned expanded fight against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, going to the aid of Iraqi security forces near Baghdad who were being attacked by enemy fighters.U.S. officials said Monday the United States has taken the first step in its planned expanded fight against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, going to the aid of Iraqi security forces near Baghdad who were being attacked by enemy fighters.The strikes represent the newly broadened mission authorized by U.S. President Barack Obama to go on the offensive against the Islamic State group wherever it is.The strikes hit "small-scale" refineries that were producing "between 300-500 barrels of refined petroleum per day", the Pentagon said.The US-led air war against Islamic State extremists targeted oil refineries in eastern Syria on Wednesday, in a bid to undercut the group's oil smuggling profits.
