16.30 Via AFP, there are quotes from Angela Merkel reported in
local media on the issue of possibly arming Kurds and giving humanitarian
aid.
This requires humanitarian aid and the possible supply of equipment for those
who are fighting against the terrorists."
"Stopping the advance of these extremists and helping those in need is a task
for the entire international community," she was quoted as saying by the
Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung.
This requires humanitarian aid and the possible supply of equipment for those
who are fighting against the terrorists."
Germany, a major arms manufacturer, as a rule does not export weapons into
war zones, but Merkel pointed out that German law allows for exceptions in
cases that impact national security.
"When it comes to arms exports, the government always has some political and legal leeway, and if necessary we will exhaust it.
"Here we will coordinate closely with our partners and, above all, with the United States."
"German security interests are a factor in our deliberations, but no decisions have been taken yet."
16.25 Barack Obama, US President, is due to give a speech at 5.15pm (12.15 ET). We'll have the updates as soon as possible.
16.15 German air force planes will deliver humanitarian aid to northern Iraq on Friday, media reported, as Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin was also considering sending weapons to help the embattled country, AFP report.
Four German Transall C-160 military transporters, carrying 36 tonnes of mostly medical and food supplies, will fly via Turkey to the Kurdish city of Arbil, reported national news agency DPA.
Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said this week that Germany may also send non-lethal military hardware such as armoured vehicles, helmets, security vests and night-vision gear.
It comes after the UK delivered more aid and David Cameron went to visit a DFID centre to see aid prepared.
16.12 According to BuzzFeed's Middle East Correspondent, Sheera Frankel:
<noframe>Twitter: Sheera Frenkel - Peshmerga have built trenches around Khazir, several kilometers of no mans land until area of ISIS control begins.</noframe>
<noframe>Twitter: Sheera Frenkel - Saw ISIS today, moving positions around Khazir. Some outgoing fire from peshmerga, no incoming while we were there.</noframe>
16.05 According to Associated Press, two American officials claim roughly 4,500 people remain atop northern Iraq's Sinjar Mountain, and nearly half are herders who lived there before the siege and have no interest in being evacuated.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said a US team who spent Wednesday on the mountaintop reported numbers far smaller and circumstances less dire than feared.
15.54 Meanwhile, Press Association reports that Canon Andrew White, of St George's Anglican Church in Baghdad, the only Anglican Church in the city, said events in northern Iraq were "almost unimaginable".
He spoke at the weekend of how he had met a woman refugee from Islamic State in Erbil, the Kurdish capital, who had her finger chopped off by the militants after they were unable to remove her wedding ring.
15.52 Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is calling on the international community to document atrocities in northern Iraq in an attempt to bring perpetrators to justice at a later date, Press Association reports..
He described the actions of Islamic State as "off the scale of human horror".
"In a globalised world where even distant nations are our 'neighbour', we cannot allow these atrocities to be unleashed with impunity.
"The international community must document the human rights abuses in northern Iraq so that the perpetrators can later be prosecuted."
15.40 In a second tweet, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Minister, said: "If the current threat level persists, I can't rule out that we will have to deliver weapons
15.23 The Syrian Kurdish YPG mentioned in the last two posts (for those who may not know) are actually, to give them their full title, the Syrian Kurdistan People's Protection Units.
They are a mainly Kurdish militia, according to the BBC.
For an in-depth understanding, read this Vice News piece about the group.
15.19 Displaced people from the Yazidi religious minority, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State in Sinjar town, ride on a truck as they are evacuated from Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq with the help of members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
14.39 It was reported earlier the UN declared the crisis in Iraq the highest level of humanitarian crisis.
The situation of displaced people on Sinjar Mountain remains of critical
concern, where tens of thousands of people are reportedly still trapped,
with health conditions quickly deteriorating”, said UNICEF Representative to
Iraq, Marzio Babille.
Only three other countries in the world share this same status: Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
14.35 The Telegraph's Foreign Correspondent Ruth Sherlock and Carol Malouf are in Iraq but on their way to Syria taking the same route as many of the refugees.
14.25 The Telegraph's Steven Swinford writes David Cameron is coming under more pressure today to recall Parliament to debate the Iraq crisis.
Ann Clwyd, the labour MP and chairman of the all party group on human rights, said she has asked the Speaker to recall Parliament twice.
Mrs Clwyd, who is currently on holiday, that Mr Cameron is "gagging" MPs by failing to do so. "I’m prepared to come back from holiday because the whole of the Middle East is in chaos and we should be talking about it," she said.
14.03 According to AFP the Moroccan interior ministry said on Thursday it has dismantled a network responsible for recruiting jihadists and sending them to fight in Syria and Iraq for the Islamic State group.
"The operation, based on detailed investigations carried out in close collaboration with Spain, stems from a proactive security approach aimed at battling terrorist threats," a ministry statement said.
The cell's members "were preparing to carry out terrorist acts within the kingdom (of Morocco) using firearms and explosives," it said.
13.55 More from Reuters about who is supplying arms to the Kurds and who isn't. In their main story, they report the Czech government is looking for ways to supply weapons to the Kurds, possibly through private companies,
Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek is quoted by a local newspaper Hospodarske Noviny as saying on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, an Italian government official said the push to supply military aid to the Kurds "is coming from the Americans, but also the Kurds themselves. The British are pushing a lot, too."
13.53 This is a 3D map of Mount Sinjar, Iraqi Kurdistan and towns/cities controlled by Islamic State militants by AFP.
13.47 The United States is also asking European countries to supply arms and ammunition to Kurdish forces fighting jihadists of the Islamic State in Iraq, US and European officials said, signalling a widening of the international role in the conflict, Reuters report.
13.45 The Netherlands will consider helping arm Kurdish and Iraqi troops fighting Islamic State insurgents in Iraq if the situation does not improve, the government said in a statement published on Thursday, Reuters reports.
"The United States has increased military support to the Iraqi and Kurdish armies. The Cabinet understands and supports the considerations of its partners in arming the regional Kurdish army with support of the Iraqi government," it said.
"If the current security threat continues, the Cabinet does not rule out that the Netherlands will contribute," minutes from the a parliamentary committee meeting on Aug 11 said.
13.26 In this video, Prime Minister David Cameron says we need to respond to the situation in Iraq as it develops. He also said our plans need to be flexible enough to help people in need and get them to refugee camps.
13.12 Alastair Beach has done a lunchtime summary story. Here is what we know so far:
• Islamic State gunmen are continuing their sweep across Iraq and are poised at the gates of a town just north of Baghdad – despite American air strikes intended to thwart the extremist group’s advances
• Commanders from the fundamentalist militia are massing near Qara Tappa just 70 miles north of the capital, according to Iraqi security sources and a local official
• The move threatens to broaden the front against Kurdish Peshmerga troops, who in recent days have been routed from several battlefields across northern and western Iraq
• United Nations announced its highest level of humanitarian emergency for the crisis-hit country
• Fighting broke out in Fallujah, the city held by Islamic State which lies just 40 miles west of the capital. At least 15 people were killed, including four children, when extremist Sunni gunmen battled Iraqi troops on the city’s outskirts
• Disputing accounts from the UN refugee agency, which had estimated that there could be tens of thousands of Yazidis trapped in the area and surrounded by Islamic State fighters, Pentagon officials said there were a maximum of around 4,000
For the full story, read his story online here.
13.07 The governor of Iraq's Sunni heartland Anbar Province said he has asked for and secured US support in the battle against Islamic State militants because opponents of the group may not have the stamina for a long fight.
Ahmed Khalaf al-Dulaimi told Reuters his request, made in meetings with U.S. diplomats and a senior military officer, included air support against the militants who have a tight grip on large parts of Anbar and the north.
Mr Dulaimi said the Americans had promised to help.
"Our first goal is the air support. Their technology capability will offer a lot of intelligence information and monitoring of the desert and many things which we are in need of," he said in a telephone interview.
"No date was decided but it will be very soon and there will be a presence for the Americans in the western area."
The was no immediate comment from US officials.
12.08 In the image below, displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, hold banners as they take part in a demonstration at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing in Fishkhabour, Dohuk
12.06 A Downing Street source indicated to Press Association, that the US assessment is that the number of Yazidis remaining on Mount Sinjar is in the "low thousands", with about 1,000 escaping the mountain every day.
Prime Minister David Cameron during a visit to the UK Aid disaster response centre at Kemble Airport, Wiltshire
11.46 Prime Minister David Cameron talks to Julian Neale, procurement and logistic manager for conflict, humanitarian and security department at the department for international development (DFID) during a visit to the UK Aid disaster response centre at Kemble Airport
11.32 Press Association reported he added: "What our plans need to do is to make sure that we have got the assets in place to help out in the right way and that's why last night one of our Tornados was gathering information about the situation, that's why it's important our Chinooks are in place and available if needed.
"Our plans need to be flexible enough to respond to this situation."
11.30 Earlier there was a tweet from the Prime Minister where he was seeing how aid was prepared at the UK Disaster Response Operations Centre at Cotswold Airport in Kemble, Gloucestershire.
During his time there, he said: "There does seem to be some good news and that is the American-led scouting operation has found fewer people on the mountainside than expected.
"Also we see that the UK aid drops have made a difference and have got through to people.
"It's good news that there are fewer people there and they are in better condition than expected.
11.24 From Vice News:
In the final installment of VICE News' unprecedented look inside the Islamic
State, reporter Medyan Dairieh journeys 200 miles from the the group's power
base in the Syrian city of Raqqa to the border with Iraq. There, after
defeating the Iraqi army manning the checkpoint, Islamic State fighters work
further to bulldoze the border.
11.22 According to the UN via Twitter, "as of 13 August, an estimated 55,000 Iraqi refugees have entered Syria after fleeing Sinjar mountains".
The UN also shared this graphic on Twitter which shows what the needs are of the thousands of refugees forced to flee their homes.
11.03 Displaced Iraqi people from the Yazidi community are pictured in a refugee camp near the Turkey-Iraq border at Silopi in Sirnak
10.54 The Sunni militants have made a dramatic push through the north to a position near Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, reports Reuters.
The movement around Qara Tappa suggests they are getting more confident and seeking to grab more territory closer to the capital after stalling in that region.
10.53 Reuters is reporting Islamic State militants are massing near the Iraqi town of Qara Tappa, 122 km (73 miles) north of Baghdad, security sources and a local official said, in an apparent bid to broaden their front with Kurdish peshmerga fighters.
10.52 Prime Minister David Cameron is visiting a Department for International Development facility where aid is prepared for those displaced in northern Iraq.
10.48 Yesterday the European Commission shared this graphic on Twitter. It shows the figures for those displaced and where they have been forced to flee from. It was created by the EU/JRC/Emergency Response Coordination Centre.
10.28 Press Association report that in a series of telephone calls with
world leaders, Mr Cameron also spoke with President Massoud Barzani of the
Kurdistan regional government, with No 10 reporting that he commended the
bravery of Kurdish Peshmerga forces fighting IS, while reiterating the UK's
role in helping the international effort to transport military supplies to
Kurdish forces.
Meanwhile, the MoD confirmed that Chinook helicopters have arrived in Cyprus.
They could be used to support the US in any possible rescue attempt.
10.22 Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's PM and president-elect, is giving a speech and according to the Wall Street Journal's Emre Peker, he said "there is no country in the whole world that is as sensitive and caring about minorities as Turkey".
10.07 The UN Refugee Agency said they would be creating more camps to provide assistance and shelter to those displaced.
According to the agency, "there are more than 1.2 million internally displaced people in Iraq, including an estimated 700,000 in the Kurdistan region, which already hosts some 220,000 Syrian refugees".
09.55 David Cameron is likely to put plans for to rescue thousands of refugees trapped in northern Iraq on hold after the US said that the crisis is not as bad as feared, writes Steven Swinford and Georgia Graham.
The Pentagon this morning said that a rescue operation is "far less
likely" after US special forces found that the number of refugees on
the mountain is closer to 5,000.
They said that those who are on the mountain surrounded by Islamic State extremists are in "far better condition" than previously feared and have access to aid drops.
Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, said that Britain will still join a rescue efforts if the US decides to launch an operation and said there remain concerns that refugees are in "desperate straits".
She told Sky News: "It has been hard to get a clear picture of what is happening on the mountain. People have started to leave the mountain... they appear to be in better condition. It [US surveillance] shows that the air strikes have given that space for people to get to safety. The air drops have meant that people have been able to stay alive. We are hopefully seeing an improvement in the situation, but there are still people stranded."
09.46 The Telegraph's Ruth Sherlock who is on the ground said a Kurdish security source claimed PKK wanted to join the US and local Kurdish forces' offensive.
The 20 US troops and mlocal Kurdish forces on Mount Sinjar were coordinating on a planned attack on Islamic State which the Kurdish group, designated a terrorist organisation by the US, wanted to join, according to the source.
The source claimed the US said they could not allow it as they could not be seen to be working with PKK.
09.37 The Iraqi Ministry of defence release footage showing dozens of Yazidis being evacuated from mountains near Sinjar in northern Iraq. The footage shows an Iraq air force helicopter dropping food and water supplies to the the crowds gathered below, before landing and taking on board several people, mainly women and young children.
09.29 In an interview with BBC, Justine Greening said humanitarian aid would continue. However, she said it was 'less likely' that there would be a rescue mission, according to BBC Political Correspondent Iain Watson on Twitter.
Clearly we need to continue doing the air drops we have been doing, getting
people vital supplies, like water in our case.
We do know there are many people left on that mountain in desperate straits.
The US have given us a more accurate on-the-ground assessment but ultimately we need to continue helping people on the mountain.
We have to bear in mind when people come off the mountain they are still displaced."
The minister accepted on Radio 4's Today programme it was "difficult to get the exact facts".
09.21 A local health official said four children have died in clashes between Sunni militants and Iraqi soldiers west of Baghdad, AP reports.
Hospital director Ahmed Shami said the fighting took place early on Thursday on the northern outskirts of the city of Fallujah, which has been in the hands of the Islamic State group since early January.
Shami says at least 10 militants and a woman were also killed. He had no details about the clashes beyond saying that the bodies of the victims were brought to his hospital.
Along with Fallujah - which is 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad - the Islamic State controls large swaths of the country's north and west.
The militants' offensive has plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since the 2011 pullout of U.S. troops.
09.09 A girl from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, rests at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing in Fishk habour
Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community cross the Syrian-Iraqi border along the Fishkhabur bridge over the Tigris River
09.05 Last night, Justine Greening, International Development Secretary, said more aid from the UK was on its way.
09.04 The United Nations has announced its highest level of emergency for the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.
According to AP, The U.N.'s declaration of a "Level 3 Emergency" will trigger additional goods, funds and assets to respond to the needs of the displaced, said UN special representative Nickolay Mladenov, who pointed to the "scale and complexity of the current humanitarian catastrophe".
The Security Council said on Wednesday it was backing a newly nominated premier-designate in the hope that he can swiftly form an "inclusive government" that could counter the insurgent threat. However, yesterday, Iraq's current prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki said he would not leave until the court ruled that he should.
9am Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Iraq crisis. The latest from The Telegraph's US Correspondent David Millward is that a mission to rescue tens of thousands of Yazidi refugees is “far less likely” the Pentagon said as it assessed a report from marines, special forces and aid experts who briefly landed on Mount Sinjar.
The Pentagon believes the number of refugees still trapped on the Mount Sinjar is down to the low thousands.
Meanwhile it emerged last night the SAS was on the ground in Iraq as part of the operation to rescue 30,000 “desperate” Yazidi refugees, it emerged on Wednesday, as US forces landed on Mount Sinjar.
American officials confirmed that a combined contingent of 20 US Marines, special forces and USAID disaster assistance experts had "briefly" landed on Mt Sinjar just hours after David Cameron pledged that Britain would help with the mission.
"When it comes to arms exports, the government always has some political and legal leeway, and if necessary we will exhaust it.
"Here we will coordinate closely with our partners and, above all, with the United States."
"German security interests are a factor in our deliberations, but no decisions have been taken yet."
16.25 Barack Obama, US President, is due to give a speech at 5.15pm (12.15 ET). We'll have the updates as soon as possible.
16.15 German air force planes will deliver humanitarian aid to northern Iraq on Friday, media reported, as Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin was also considering sending weapons to help the embattled country, AFP report.
Four German Transall C-160 military transporters, carrying 36 tonnes of mostly medical and food supplies, will fly via Turkey to the Kurdish city of Arbil, reported national news agency DPA.
Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said this week that Germany may also send non-lethal military hardware such as armoured vehicles, helmets, security vests and night-vision gear.
It comes after the UK delivered more aid and David Cameron went to visit a DFID centre to see aid prepared.
16.12 According to BuzzFeed's Middle East Correspondent, Sheera Frankel:
<noframe>Twitter: Sheera Frenkel - Peshmerga have built trenches around Khazir, several kilometers of no mans land until area of ISIS control begins.</noframe>
<noframe>Twitter: Sheera Frenkel - Saw ISIS today, moving positions around Khazir. Some outgoing fire from peshmerga, no incoming while we were there.</noframe>
16.05 According to Associated Press, two American officials claim roughly 4,500 people remain atop northern Iraq's Sinjar Mountain, and nearly half are herders who lived there before the siege and have no interest in being evacuated.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said a US team who spent Wednesday on the mountaintop reported numbers far smaller and circumstances less dire than feared.
15.54 Meanwhile, Press Association reports that Canon Andrew White, of St George's Anglican Church in Baghdad, the only Anglican Church in the city, said events in northern Iraq were "almost unimaginable".
He spoke at the weekend of how he had met a woman refugee from Islamic State in Erbil, the Kurdish capital, who had her finger chopped off by the militants after they were unable to remove her wedding ring.
15.52 Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is calling on the international community to document atrocities in northern Iraq in an attempt to bring perpetrators to justice at a later date, Press Association reports..
He described the actions of Islamic State as "off the scale of human horror".
"In a globalised world where even distant nations are our 'neighbour', we cannot allow these atrocities to be unleashed with impunity.
"The international community must document the human rights abuses in northern Iraq so that the perpetrators can later be prosecuted."
15.40 In a second tweet, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Minister, said: "If the current threat level persists, I can't rule out that we will have to deliver weapons
15.23 The Syrian Kurdish YPG mentioned in the last two posts (for those who may not know) are actually, to give them their full title, the Syrian Kurdistan People's Protection Units.
They are a mainly Kurdish militia, according to the BBC.
For an in-depth understanding, read this Vice News piece about the group.
15.19 Displaced people from the Yazidi religious minority, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Islamic State in Sinjar town, ride on a truck as they are evacuated from Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq with the help of members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
14.39 It was reported earlier the UN declared the crisis in Iraq the highest level of humanitarian crisis.
The situation of displaced people on Sinjar Mountain remains of critical
concern, where tens of thousands of people are reportedly still trapped,
with health conditions quickly deteriorating”, said UNICEF Representative to
Iraq, Marzio Babille.
Only three other countries in the world share this same status: Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
14.35 The Telegraph's Foreign Correspondent Ruth Sherlock and Carol Malouf are in Iraq but on their way to Syria taking the same route as many of the refugees.
14.25 The Telegraph's Steven Swinford writes David Cameron is coming under more pressure today to recall Parliament to debate the Iraq crisis.
Ann Clwyd, the labour MP and chairman of the all party group on human rights, said she has asked the Speaker to recall Parliament twice.
Mrs Clwyd, who is currently on holiday, that Mr Cameron is "gagging" MPs by failing to do so. "I’m prepared to come back from holiday because the whole of the Middle East is in chaos and we should be talking about it," she said.
14.03 According to AFP the Moroccan interior ministry said on Thursday it has dismantled a network responsible for recruiting jihadists and sending them to fight in Syria and Iraq for the Islamic State group.
"The operation, based on detailed investigations carried out in close collaboration with Spain, stems from a proactive security approach aimed at battling terrorist threats," a ministry statement said.
The cell's members "were preparing to carry out terrorist acts within the kingdom (of Morocco) using firearms and explosives," it said.
13.55 More from Reuters about who is supplying arms to the Kurds and who isn't. In their main story, they report the Czech government is looking for ways to supply weapons to the Kurds, possibly through private companies,
Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek is quoted by a local newspaper Hospodarske Noviny as saying on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, an Italian government official said the push to supply military aid to the Kurds "is coming from the Americans, but also the Kurds themselves. The British are pushing a lot, too."
13.53 This is a 3D map of Mount Sinjar, Iraqi Kurdistan and towns/cities controlled by Islamic State militants by AFP.
13.47 The United States is also asking European countries to supply arms and ammunition to Kurdish forces fighting jihadists of the Islamic State in Iraq, US and European officials said, signalling a widening of the international role in the conflict, Reuters report.
13.45 The Netherlands will consider helping arm Kurdish and Iraqi troops fighting Islamic State insurgents in Iraq if the situation does not improve, the government said in a statement published on Thursday, Reuters reports.
"The United States has increased military support to the Iraqi and Kurdish armies. The Cabinet understands and supports the considerations of its partners in arming the regional Kurdish army with support of the Iraqi government," it said.
"If the current security threat continues, the Cabinet does not rule out that the Netherlands will contribute," minutes from the a parliamentary committee meeting on Aug 11 said.
13.26 In this video, Prime Minister David Cameron says we need to respond to the situation in Iraq as it develops. He also said our plans need to be flexible enough to help people in need and get them to refugee camps.
13.12 Alastair Beach has done a lunchtime summary story. Here is what we know so far:
• Islamic State gunmen are continuing their sweep across Iraq and are poised at the gates of a town just north of Baghdad – despite American air strikes intended to thwart the extremist group’s advances
• Commanders from the fundamentalist militia are massing near Qara Tappa just 70 miles north of the capital, according to Iraqi security sources and a local official
• The move threatens to broaden the front against Kurdish Peshmerga troops, who in recent days have been routed from several battlefields across northern and western Iraq
• United Nations announced its highest level of humanitarian emergency for the crisis-hit country
• Fighting broke out in Fallujah, the city held by Islamic State which lies just 40 miles west of the capital. At least 15 people were killed, including four children, when extremist Sunni gunmen battled Iraqi troops on the city’s outskirts
• Disputing accounts from the UN refugee agency, which had estimated that there could be tens of thousands of Yazidis trapped in the area and surrounded by Islamic State fighters, Pentagon officials said there were a maximum of around 4,000
For the full story, read his story online here.
13.07 The governor of Iraq's Sunni heartland Anbar Province said he has asked for and secured US support in the battle against Islamic State militants because opponents of the group may not have the stamina for a long fight.
Ahmed Khalaf al-Dulaimi told Reuters his request, made in meetings with U.S. diplomats and a senior military officer, included air support against the militants who have a tight grip on large parts of Anbar and the north.
Mr Dulaimi said the Americans had promised to help.
"Our first goal is the air support. Their technology capability will offer a lot of intelligence information and monitoring of the desert and many things which we are in need of," he said in a telephone interview.
"No date was decided but it will be very soon and there will be a presence for the Americans in the western area."
The was no immediate comment from US officials.
12.08 In the image below, displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, hold banners as they take part in a demonstration at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing in Fishkhabour, Dohuk
12.06 A Downing Street source indicated to Press Association, that the US assessment is that the number of Yazidis remaining on Mount Sinjar is in the "low thousands", with about 1,000 escaping the mountain every day.
Prime Minister David Cameron during a visit to the UK Aid disaster response centre at Kemble Airport, Wiltshire
11.46 Prime Minister David Cameron talks to Julian Neale, procurement and logistic manager for conflict, humanitarian and security department at the department for international development (DFID) during a visit to the UK Aid disaster response centre at Kemble Airport
11.32 Press Association reported he added: "What our plans need to do is to make sure that we have got the assets in place to help out in the right way and that's why last night one of our Tornados was gathering information about the situation, that's why it's important our Chinooks are in place and available if needed.
"Our plans need to be flexible enough to respond to this situation."
11.30 Earlier there was a tweet from the Prime Minister where he was seeing how aid was prepared at the UK Disaster Response Operations Centre at Cotswold Airport in Kemble, Gloucestershire.
During his time there, he said: "There does seem to be some good news and that is the American-led scouting operation has found fewer people on the mountainside than expected.
"Also we see that the UK aid drops have made a difference and have got through to people.
"It's good news that there are fewer people there and they are in better condition than expected.
11.24 From Vice News:
In the final installment of VICE News' unprecedented look inside the Islamic
State, reporter Medyan Dairieh journeys 200 miles from the the group's power
base in the Syrian city of Raqqa to the border with Iraq. There, after
defeating the Iraqi army manning the checkpoint, Islamic State fighters work
further to bulldoze the border.
11.22 According to the UN via Twitter, "as of 13 August, an estimated 55,000 Iraqi refugees have entered Syria after fleeing Sinjar mountains".
The UN also shared this graphic on Twitter which shows what the needs are of the thousands of refugees forced to flee their homes.
11.03 Displaced Iraqi people from the Yazidi community are pictured in a refugee camp near the Turkey-Iraq border at Silopi in Sirnak
10.54 The Sunni militants have made a dramatic push through the north to a position near Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, reports Reuters.
The movement around Qara Tappa suggests they are getting more confident and seeking to grab more territory closer to the capital after stalling in that region.
10.53 Reuters is reporting Islamic State militants are massing near the Iraqi town of Qara Tappa, 122 km (73 miles) north of Baghdad, security sources and a local official said, in an apparent bid to broaden their front with Kurdish peshmerga fighters.
10.52 Prime Minister David Cameron is visiting a Department for International Development facility where aid is prepared for those displaced in northern Iraq.
10.48 Yesterday the European Commission shared this graphic on Twitter. It shows the figures for those displaced and where they have been forced to flee from. It was created by the EU/JRC/Emergency Response Coordination Centre.
10.22 Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's PM and president-elect, is giving a speech and according to the Wall Street Journal's Emre Peker, he said "there is no country in the whole world that is as sensitive and caring about minorities as Turkey".
10.07 The UN Refugee Agency said they would be creating more camps to provide assistance and shelter to those displaced.
According to the agency, "there are more than 1.2 million internally displaced people in Iraq, including an estimated 700,000 in the Kurdistan region, which already hosts some 220,000 Syrian refugees".
09.55 David Cameron is likely to put plans for to rescue thousands of refugees trapped in northern Iraq on hold after the US said that the crisis is not as bad as feared, writes Steven Swinford and Georgia Graham.
The Pentagon this morning said that a rescue operation is "far less
likely" after US special forces found that the number of refugees on
the mountain is closer to 5,000.
They said that those who are on the mountain surrounded by Islamic State extremists are in "far better condition" than previously feared and have access to aid drops.
Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, said that Britain will still join a rescue efforts if the US decides to launch an operation and said there remain concerns that refugees are in "desperate straits".
She told Sky News: "It has been hard to get a clear picture of what is happening on the mountain. People have started to leave the mountain... they appear to be in better condition. It [US surveillance] shows that the air strikes have given that space for people to get to safety. The air drops have meant that people have been able to stay alive. We are hopefully seeing an improvement in the situation, but there are still people stranded."
09.46 The Telegraph's Ruth Sherlock who is on the ground said a Kurdish security source claimed PKK wanted to join the US and local Kurdish forces' offensive.
The 20 US troops and mlocal Kurdish forces on Mount Sinjar were coordinating on a planned attack on Islamic State which the Kurdish group, designated a terrorist organisation by the US, wanted to join, according to the source.
The source claimed the US said they could not allow it as they could not be seen to be working with PKK.
09.37 The Iraqi Ministry of defence release footage showing dozens of Yazidis being evacuated from mountains near Sinjar in northern Iraq. The footage shows an Iraq air force helicopter dropping food and water supplies to the the crowds gathered below, before landing and taking on board several people, mainly women and young children.
09.29 In an interview with BBC, Justine Greening said humanitarian aid would continue. However, she said it was 'less likely' that there would be a rescue mission, according to BBC Political Correspondent Iain Watson on Twitter.
Clearly we need to continue doing the air drops we have been doing, getting
people vital supplies, like water in our case.
We do know there are many people left on that mountain in desperate straits.
The US have given us a more accurate on-the-ground assessment but ultimately we need to continue helping people on the mountain.
We have to bear in mind when people come off the mountain they are still displaced."
The minister accepted on Radio 4's Today programme it was "difficult to get the exact facts".
09.21 A local health official said four children have died in clashes between Sunni militants and Iraqi soldiers west of Baghdad, AP reports.
Hospital director Ahmed Shami said the fighting took place early on Thursday on the northern outskirts of the city of Fallujah, which has been in the hands of the Islamic State group since early January.
Shami says at least 10 militants and a woman were also killed. He had no details about the clashes beyond saying that the bodies of the victims were brought to his hospital.
Along with Fallujah - which is 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad - the Islamic State controls large swaths of the country's north and west.
The militants' offensive has plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since the 2011 pullout of U.S. troops.
09.09 A girl from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, rests at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing in Fishk habour
Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community cross the Syrian-Iraqi border along the Fishkhabur bridge over the Tigris River
09.05 Last night, Justine Greening, International Development Secretary, said more aid from the UK was on its way.
09.04 The United Nations has announced its highest level of emergency for the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.
According to AP, The U.N.'s declaration of a "Level 3 Emergency" will trigger additional goods, funds and assets to respond to the needs of the displaced, said UN special representative Nickolay Mladenov, who pointed to the "scale and complexity of the current humanitarian catastrophe".
The Security Council said on Wednesday it was backing a newly nominated premier-designate in the hope that he can swiftly form an "inclusive government" that could counter the insurgent threat. However, yesterday, Iraq's current prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki said he would not leave until the court ruled that he should.
9am Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Iraq crisis. The latest from The Telegraph's US Correspondent David Millward is that a mission to rescue tens of thousands of Yazidi refugees is “far less likely” the Pentagon said as it assessed a report from marines, special forces and aid experts who briefly landed on Mount Sinjar.
The Pentagon believes the number of refugees still trapped on the Mount Sinjar is down to the low thousands.
Meanwhile it emerged last night the SAS was on the ground in Iraq as part of the operation to rescue 30,000 “desperate” Yazidi refugees, it emerged on Wednesday, as US forces landed on Mount Sinjar.
American officials confirmed that a combined contingent of 20 US Marines, special forces and USAID disaster assistance experts had "briefly" landed on Mt Sinjar just hours after David Cameron pledged that Britain would help with the mission.
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