By CNN's Tracey Webb

Get your daily scoop of what State of the Union is watching today, August 8, 2014

1. U.S. airstrikes in Iraq.  American warplanes have returned to Iraqi airspace targeting the Islamic extremists known as ISIS.  President Obama signed off on the mission after the jihadists became a threat to the city of Irbil, where U.S. personnel are stationed, and to keep ISIS from committing genocide against Christians and the Kurdish minority Yadzis.   The U.S. military is also airdropping food and water to tens of thousands of starving and thirsty Yadzis who were forced into the mountains by the ISIS onslaught.  Sen. John McCain will offer his thoughts on the airstrikes and whether the U.S. should do more Sunday on State of the Union.

2. Israel-Gaza conflict. The fighting between Israel and Hamas has resumed after the two sides couldn't come to an agreement to extend a three-day truce. Israel hit targets in Gaza in retaliation for what it says were rocket attacks by Hamas.  Palestinians say the renewed fighting has claimed five lives in Gaza.  Israel says rockets fired from Gaza injured one of its civilians and one soldier.   There is no indication if cease-fire talks will be re-started.

3. The Ebola crisis.  The World Health Organization is now describing the spread of the Ebola virus as an international health emergency.  The WHO says a coordinated global response is needed to curb the crisis.  The epicenter of the Ebola outbreak has been West Africa, where over 900 people have died. Two Americans who contracted the virus while in Liberia are being treated at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital.

4. The Tea Party.   It lost its last chance to unseat an incumbent Republican senator Thursday, when Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander soundly defeated his primary challenger.   The Tea Party is 0 for 6 in this year's Republican Senate primaries.   The question now is whether Tea Party supporters will back the establishment Republican candidates they railed against.