White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to confirm a report published by The New York Times Thursday that said U.S. President Barack Obama is considering airstrikes and emergency relief airdrops to help 40,000 religious minorities in Iraq who are trapped on a mountaintop after death threats by Islamic militants.
"The situation is nearing a humanitarian catastrophe," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "We are gravely concerned for their health and safety."
The White House called the dire humanitarian situation in Iraq a consequence of a broader failure of Iraqi political leaders.
"There are no American military solutions to the problems in Iraq," Earnest told reporters during the midday briefing, adding that there would be no American boots on the ground.
Solutions to the humanitarian crisis near Sinjar "will only come through political reforms in Iraq," Earnest said.
Assault on minorities
While the White House did not publicly outline the range of options under consideration, officials said the U.S. strongly condemns the extremists' assault on minorities, including the Yazidis, who follow an ancient religion with ties to Zoroastrianism, and Christians.
The urgency for action comes as Sunni extremists have made major gains in Iraq's north. The extremists took over the Kurdish town of Sinjar, forcing its population of Yazidi minorities to flee with little food or water.
Obama huddled with his national security team Thursday morning to discuss the crisis in Iraq's north.
Among the most pressing concerns is the plight of the Yazidis, who fled the Kurdish town of Sinjar in recent days. Thousands fled their homes for the mountains after the Islamic State group issued an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay a religious fine, flee their homes or face death.
If Obama were to approve humanitarian assistance to the Yazidis and others, it could be delivered via airdrops by the U.S. military. The military could also advise and assist the Iraqi air force on where and how to deliver humanitarian relief supplies.
Earnest said any U.S. military action would be limited in scope.
A defense official told the VOA: "We have been working urgently and directly with officials in Baghdad and Irbil to coordinate Iraqi airdrops to people in need. The government of Iraq has initiated air drops in the region and we are in constant communication with them on how we can help coordinate additional relief, enhance their efforts, and provide direct assistance wherever possible."
Militants gain ground
The Islamic State's Sunni militants, an offshoot of al-Qaida who have swept across northwestern Iraq in recent weeks, have come within a 30-minute drive of the Kurdish capital of Irbil.
The militants inflicted a humiliating defeat on Kurdish forces over the weekend, prompting tens of thousands from the ancient Yazidi community to flee the town of Sinjar for surrounding mountains.
Some of the many thousands trapped on Sinjar mountain have been rescued in the past 24 hours, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said earlier, adding that 200,000 had fled the fighting.
The Islamist fighters, who have killed many thousands and declared a caliphate in the area they conquered, are threatening the northern Iraq region of Kurdistan, previously considered a bastion of stability in a country ravaged by conflict.
The Kurds have made urgent appeals to Washington for arms or other military help, but the United States, committed to helping Baghdad restore a unified state and wary of Kurdish moves toward independence, have so far declined.
However, there have been signs the Obama administration may be shifting its position.
U.S. aid to Kurdistan
Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for Obama's National Security Council, told Reuters on Wednesday that any provision of U.S. weapons to the Kurds “must be coordinated with central government authorities, in Iraq and elsewhere.”
But she added that given the threat from the Islamic State “the United States will continue to engage with Baghdad and Irbil to enhance cooperation on the security front and other issues. We are in continuous consultation with the government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to determine how they can best coordinate” to confront the militants.
She said Washington fully supported a decision earlier this week by Baghdad to send air support to Kurdistan.
Yazidi population
Just a week ago, Yazidis living in their ancient homeland of Sinjar in northern Iraq felt protected by Kurdish peshmerga forces. Followers of an ancient religion derived from Zoroastrianism, the Yazidis are themselves Kurds.
The peshmerga - “those who confront death” - had acquired reputations as fierce warriors who once took on Saddam Hussein's troops. But they gave way before the Sunni militants, who had seized tanks and armored personnel carriers from the Iraqi military when they swept through the north in June.
Iraq's U.S.-trained and funded army crumbled, leaving the Kurds and Shi'ite militias to fight back against Sunni militants, who were gaining momentum after launching a weekend offensive.
The Yazidis appear to be paying the heaviest humanitarian price for the ambitions of the Islamic State.
“Most of the families were stopped by Islamic State militants while they were leaving and the militants killed men. Some were beheaded,” said Abu Ali, 38, who was hiding with tens of thousands of others on Sinjar Mountain.
“One of the saddest stories was one of our relatives. They beheaded all his 15 family members in front of him and then took him with them.”
Yazidi women were hauled away for forced marriages, or perhaps slavery, as in other towns. “Some were taken to Syria,” Abu Ali said.
Many of Yazidi villages were destroyed years earlier when Saddam Hussein's troops tried to crush the Kurds. Some were abducted by his security agents. Now they are on the defensive again.
Witnesses reached by telephone said about 100 babies died from thirst in mountains infested by snakes and scorpions. But coming down from the mountains and returning to Sinjar is a risky option.
Minorities forced to conform
In other places they have captured, Islamic State militants have imposed their radical view of Islam - women must wear a full-face veil, Shi'ite mosques must be dynamited, “infidels” eliminated.
Minorities have little chance of surviving unless they conform. Nareen Shammo, a Yazidi activist, said families who stayed behind in Sinjar were forced to convert to Islam.
“Five hundred women were kidnapped. Some of them were sold in an auction at low prices and others were forced to marry militants,” Shammo said.
Amnesty International said panic was gripping northern Iraq.
“Many members of minorities are even fleeing areas where there seems to be no imminent danger of an ISIS attack as they are so traumatized by their recent displacement,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's senior crisis response adviser, who is currently in northern Iraq.
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