President Obama has authorized airstrikes in Iraq targeting ISIS. The announcement comes after the U.S. launched an airdrop operation delivering humanitarian relief to thousands of members of a nearly extinct sect known as the Yazidis. ISIS forced them from their homes and into the surrounding mountains to die without food or water. It isn't just the Yazidis on the run from ISIS. Christians, Kurds and other minorities are fleeing ISIS fighters who are armed with weapons stolen from the Iraqi military. Ivan Watson reports from Irbil, Iraq on the latest on events that led up to President Obama's decision to authorize these airstrikes and airdrops.

The Pentagon's airdrop operation in Iraq is both delicate and risky. Anderson discussed the logistics of all this with Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell, and former White House Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend.

President Obama authorized targeted airstrikes and a humanitarian relief airdrop after ISIS' latest offensive in Iraq. Over the last few years, ISIS has grown to become one of the world's most brutal and dangerous Jihadist groups. Anderson Cooper looks at how they became so dangerous so fast.

Could ISIS retaliate against the U.S. with an attack on the American homeland? Anderson discussed this ISIS' capabilities with former CIA officer Bob Baer, National Security editor of The Guardian, Spencer Ackerman and Quartz managing editor Bobby Ghosh