MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - Australia conducted its first humanitarian aid airdrop to the Yazidi Kurds in northern Iraq trapped on Mount Sinjar, while fleeing from Islamic State (IS) militants, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday.
“The mission was conducted by a RAAF C-130J Hercules delivering 10 pallets of badly needed supplies to Yazidi civilians trapped on Mount Sinjar by encircling ISIL forces,” Abbott was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.
The supplies included 150 boxes of high-energy biscuits and 340 boxes of bottled water. The aid drops will continue until the refugees can safely move from the mountain.
Earlier on, Britain conducted humanitarian airdrops to the Iraqi refugees, delivering water and solar lamps. The United States has carried out a number of humanitarian aid deliveries to the region, providing Iraqi Kurds with food and water. In addition, Britain and France intend to supply Iraqi Kurds with arms to help them fight IS militants.
The Islamic State is a Sunni group that has been fighting in Syria and launched an offensive in Iraq in June. The group has taken over large parts of the country, with a goal of seizing Baghdad. The group has also announced the establishment of a caliphate on the Iraq-Syria border.
Iraqi Kurds have already re-established military cooperation with Baghdad in an effort to drive IS fighters back. But tens of thousands of Yazidi Kurds are still stranded atop Mount Sinjar after fleeing the IS insurgency. Yazidis are a religious minority in the country’s north who now run a risk of being massacred by the radical Islamist group.
Like Moscow, the United Nations Security Council has called on all Iraqi communities to unite and respond to what it describes as a threat to Iraq’s future.
