US launches airstrikes around Iraq's threatened Haditha Dam

The United States launched airstrikes around the Haditha Dam in west Iraq on Sunday, in a move aimed at preventing Islamic State insurgents from advancing on one of the country’s key power generators.

The set of four strikes, conducted on Saturday and confirmed by the Pentagon, marked the first time that the U.S. has targeted extremist fighters in the area since the group mounted an offensive to capture the vital dam last month.

"At the request of the government of Iraq, U.S. military forces attacked ISIL (an alternative acronym for Islamic State, or IS) terrorists near Haditha in Anbar province in support of Iraqi security forces and Sunni tribes protecting the Haditha dam," the U.S. Central Command confirmed in a statement.

Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby added: "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."

Iraqi army helicopters were also taking part in the offensive, targeting the positions of Islamic State fighters around the city of Haditha, the Iraqi defense ministry confirmed.

U.S. officials said that while the dam, in Anbar province, remains in control of the Iraqis, the U.S. offensive is an effort to beat back fighters who have been trying to take over key dams across the country. Central Command said several Islamic State vehicles, a checkpoint and a bunker were destroyed on Saturday in airstrikes.

The military action comes after Islamic State fighters mounted an attempt to capture the Haditha Dam, which has six power generators located alongside the country's second-largest reservoir, last month. On that occasion, Iraqi forces backed up by local Sunni tribes were able to hold them off.

But IS was able to take control of the strategically important Mosul Dam in northern Iraq. Control was seized back when persistent U.S. air strikes helped Kurdish and Iraqi forces retake the facility.

Since President Barack Obama authorized a limited military campaign on Islamic State targets in Iraq in August, the U.S. has conducted 138 separate strikes. Washington is currently working to cobble together an international coalition to broaden the offensive, possibly expanding across the border into Syria, where the insurgency is based.

Obama is expected to detail his strategy to tackle Islamic State in an address on Wednesday.

In an interview with on NBC’s Meet the Press of Sunday, the president said: "What I want people to understand...is that over the course of months, we are going to be able to not just blunt the momentum of ISIL…we are going to systematically degrade their capabilities.

"We're going to shrink the territory that they control. And ultimately we're going to defeat them."

Al Jazeera and wire services