More RAF Iraq air drops but US recon unit rules out rescue

 
Desperation: Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect hold banners as they take part in a demonstration at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing in Dohuk

RAF planes are to continue aid drops to refugees trapped in mountains in northern Iraq but a dangerous rescue mission now looks unlikely.

A US special forces reconnaissance team which landed under cover of darkness in the Sinjar range found fewer people stranded than expected and those who were there are in better condition than previously thought.

The number of members of the Yazidi religious minority who fled to the mountains to avoid being slaughtered by Islamist fanatics is believed to be in the thousands rather than the tens of thousands originally there. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said: “It’s far less likely now that we would undertake any kind of specific humanitarian rescue mission that we have been planning.” David Cameron, visiting an aid distribution centre in Wiltshire, confirmed that a British Tornado jet flew a reconnaissance mission over the mountains last night and said it was “good news” the number of stranded refugees was coming down.

British special forces and US elite soldiers had already been deployed to the area to prepare for a major rescue either using a fleet of helicopters or by opening up a safe corridor.

The UK sent Chinook helicopters to Cyprus bases to be ready to take part but the mission would have been fraught with difficulty.

Overseas Aid Secretary Justine Greening said today: “The US have given us a more accurate on-the-ground assessment, but ultimately we need to continue helping people on the mountain.

“Clearly we need to continue doing the air drops we have been doing, getting people vital supplies, like water in our case. There are many people left on that mountain in desperate straits.” Tens of thousands of Yazidis have been led to safety by Kurdish fighters by crossing the border into Syria before returning to northern Iraq.

Ms Greening stressed that over a million people in Iraq are now displaced after the extremists from the Islamic State (Isis) poured into the country from Syria and murdered, crucified and abducted thousands.

Britain is now focusing on boosting the humanitarian relief effort and RAF C-130 Hercules aircraft carried out another air drop of water and other equipment last night in the Sinjar mountains.

David Cameron, who came back slightly early from his holiday in Portugal yesterday as a rescue operation looked imminent, and French president Francois Hollande have said the European Union “could do more” to provide aid. The Pentagon believes the dire situation in the mountains eased after food drops, US air strikes on the extremists and Kurdish peshmerga fighters helped the refugees, who had been faced with dehydration and starvation or risking coming down off the mountains and being killed by Isis.

The White House said US troops would only be used for a rescue operation, not combat, and Britain had been expected to deploy military personnel in this. But now it is less likely Mr Cameron will recall Parliament to debate the UK getting more heavily involved in another military campaign in Iraq.

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