The Syrian Democratic Forces went on to take substantial territory from the Islamic State and played a major role in the liberation of Raqqa and the battle for Deir Ezzor, ending Islamic State rule in Syria. Lebanon In June 2015, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed that ISIL and Nusra had taken a foothold in Lebanon and that fierce battles were raging between them and Hezbollah, as well as each other. Egypt Iraq U.S.-led intervention After having started flying crewed aircraft over Iraq and sending some troops in June, in August 2014 the US military began supplying Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga with weapons, dropping food for refugees fleeing from ISIL, and airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq. On 9 August, speaking about U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, President Barack Obama said "this is going to be a long-term project." Since then, nine countries allied with the US have also executed airstrikes on ISIL in Iraq, and various countries have contributed military and humanitarian aid to Iraqi government and Iraqi Kurdish ground forces. On 16–19 August, according to the U.S., Kurdish and Iraqi government forces, with the help of U.S. airstrikes, took back the Mosul Dam, the largest dam in Iraq. (For further wins and losses in Iraq against ISIL, see Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)). President Obama announced on 10 September 2014 that the number of airstrikes in Iraq would increase and that he had dispatched 500 more US troops there. On 10 September 2019, US Air Force F-35s and F-15s dropped bombs weighing 36,000 kg on an Iraqi island "infested" by ISIS. Military aid On 5 August 2014, Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US ambassador to Iraq and the UN, wrote in the Washington Post that the United States is involved in "the direct supply of munitions to the Kurds and, with Baghdad's agreement, the shipment of some Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program weapons to the Kurds." The United States moved from indirectly supplying Kurdistan with small arms through the CIA to directly giving them weapons such as man-portable anti-tank systems. In a coordinated effort led by the United States, many allied countries including NATO members and Middle Eastern partners have supplied or plan to supply Iraqi and/or Kurdish forces with heavy military equipment, small arms, ammunition, non-lethal military gear, and training support. The Building Partner Capacity (BPC) program is meant to help the Iraqi government to prepare forces for the counter-attack against ISIL and