NEW YORK – Western powers are increasingly concerned by the advance of the Islamic State (ISIS) in northern Iraq and are reportedly mulling military strikes on fighters and dropping aid to civilians caught up in the violence.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in the region and concern for religious minorities on Thursday, but refused to comment on widely-reported claims that the administration is considering air strikes.
Fox News reported that the US is considering humanitarian aid drops to families stuck on the mountains around Sinjar, while The New York Times has reported that US officials are considering air attacks to halt the Islamists’ advance.
A statement from the French President’s office said Paris “was available to support forces engaged in this battle”. It followed a telephone call between Francois Hollande and Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
France requested a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, in which members will be briefed on the ongoing Islamic State's offensive against the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). It will take place at 5.30pm local time.
Britain’s minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, condemned Islamic State brutality in the region and said an $8.4 million donation to the UN’s refugee agency and other aid groups would help 140,000 Iraqis who have fled their homes.
“ISIL’s attacks in and around Sinjar have caused thousands to flee their homes, including from the Yezidi community, and are the latest example of ISIL’s brutality, intolerance and victimisation of minority ethnic and religious groups,” Ellwood said. “I am also concerned by reports of ISIL attacks against towns to the east of Mosul in the last twenty-four hours.”
In recent days, the Sunni militants swept through northern villages of Christians, Yazidis and other minority religious groups. The extremists seized Iraq’s largest dam on Thursday, which controls access to a river that runs through the capital, Baghdad.
Donatella Rovera, an Iraq-based officer for, Amnesty International, a pressure group, warned of panic across north-western Iraq on Thursday as tens of thousands of people fled areas where Islamic State militants made an advance.
“The situation for Iraqis in the north-west of the country, especially those from the Yezidi and Christian minority communities, is becoming increasingly dire as both residents and many of those already displaced are now fleeing their homes and places of shelter,” said Rovera.
Gareth Stansfield, the Middle East director at the Royal United Services Institute, says Western powers have overlooked Kurdistan’s strategic value and should re-think their policy of side-lining Kurds in a bid to maintain the integrity of Iraq.
“By ignoring the realities of Kurdish strength in Iraq, US and European powers run the risk of losing influence in the only part of Iraq that can be called a success story, and antagonizing what could be a key ally in an increasingly unpredictable Middle East,” Stansfield told Rudaw.
