Iraq crisis: US mission to rescue Yazidis less likely after fewer refugees than expected found on Mt Sinjar

Updated

A possible US mission to evacuate civilians trapped on Iraq's Mount Sinjar after they fled Islamic State fighters is now unlikely to take place, after a US reconnaissance team found "far fewer" Yazidi refugees than previously thought.

Earlier this week the United Nations estimated that up to 30,000 Yazidis were still stranded without adequate food and water on the mountainside.

But an overnight mission, which saw fewer than 20 US special forces personnel airlifted onto the mountain under cover of darkness, found "far fewer" Yazidis than expected, the Pentagon said in a statement.

"The team has assessed that there are far fewer Yazidis ... who are in better condition than previously believed and continue to have access to the food and water that we have dropped," the statement said.

"Based on this assessment, the interagency has determined that an evacuation mission is far less likely."

The Pentagon said the US would continue to provide humanitarian assistance as needed.

The US had been pondering setting up a safe corridor or an airlift to help the Yazidis escape.

Abbott visits air base, Australian planes drop vital aid

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has confirmed Australian forces have made their first air drop to the troubled region.

A statement from Mr Abbott's office says he visited the Australian base in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday night to witness personnel preparing for the mission.

An RAAF C-130J Hercules delivered 10 pallets of high energy biscuits and bottled water - enough for 3,700 people for 24 hours, according to the Prime Minister.

"Initial reports are that the drop was conducted successfully and the aircraft is returning to base," Mr Abbott said in the statement.

"The aid drops will continue until the security of the Yazidi civilians is assured and they can safely move from Mount Sinjar."

American aircraft have been carrying out air strikes on Islamic State positions around Mt Sinjar, while US and British aircraft have been dropping food and water to the refugees.

Kurdish fighters had been guarding Yazidi towns when armed Islamic State convoys swept in, and have already helped many thousands escape to safe areas to the north.

The US has a team of 130 military personnel in the Kurdish capital Erbil, but insists no ground troops will take part in combat operations.

"These 130 personnel are not going to be in a combat role in Iraq," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with president Barack Obama, who is on vacation on Martha's Vineyard island in Massachusetts.

Mr Rhodes said the intention was to work with Kurdish forces already operating in the region and with the Iraqi military.

Mr Obama has been deeply reluctant to revive any military role in Iraq after withdrawing the last combat troops in 2011, ending eight years of costly war that eroded the United States' reputation around the world.

The president agreed last Thursday to send back more than 700 troops to help advise and guide Iraqi and Kurdish forces after a devastating sweep across north-western Iraq by the Sunni Islamic State radicals, who have declared a caliphate in much of the country.

Air attacks have slowed Islamic State: Pentagon

Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, on Wednesday said US air attacks, combined with operations by Kurdistan's Peshmerga armed forces, had "slowed, if not stopped" attacks on the terrified families who had fled to the mountain.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Australia makes first aid drop to Yazidis in Iraq (7pm TV News ACT)

"You look at corridors, you look at airlifts, you look at different ways to move people who are in a very dangerous place on that mountain to a safer position," he said.

"We obviously have not just US personnel who could potentially be engaged in that type of effort, we have Kurdish forces who are engaged in the area. ... We have international partners who also want to support the provision of humanitarian assistance."

US and British military forces have been dropping supplies of food and water to those on Mount Sinjar in the last week.

Australia, Canada and France have also offered help.

UN agencies have rushed emergency supplies to the Dohuk region by the Syrian and Turkish borders, where the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says about 400,000 refugees have fled, including Yazidis, Christians and other minorities.

Reuters/AFP

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, government-and-politics, iraq, united-states

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