AP reporting some 45,000 Kurds have been provided 'safe passage' out of the mountains by Syrians

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from Diaa Hadid, Associated Press

Syrian Kurdish fighters create safe passage for Iraqi Yazidis stranded for days on mountain

___ While the U.S. and Iraqi militaries struggle to aid the starving members of Iraq's Yazidi minority with supply drops from the air, the Syrian Kurds took it on themselves to rescue them. The move underlined how they — like Iraqi Kurds — are using the region's conflicts to establish their own rule.

For the past few days, fighters have been rescuing Yazidis from the mountain, transporting them into Syrian territory to give them first aid, food and water, and returning some to Iraq via a pontoon bridge.

The Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking minority who follow an ancient Mesopotamian faith, started to flee to the Sinjar mountain chain on Aug. 2, when militants from the extremist Islamic State group took over their nearby villages. The militants see them as heretics worthy of death.

"The (Kurdish fighters) opened a path for us. If they had not, we would still be stranded on the mountain," said Ismail Rashu, 22, in the Newroz camp in the Syrian Kurdish town of Malikiya some 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Iraqi border. Families had filled the battered, dusty tents here and new arrivals sat in the shade of rocks, sleeping on blue plastic sheets. Camp officials estimated that at least 2,000 families sought shelter there on Sunday evening.

The U.N. estimated around 50,000 Yazidis fled to the mountain. But by Sunday, Kurdish officials said at least 45,000 had crossed through the safe passage, leaving thousands more behind and suggesting the number of stranded was higher.


read more: http://www.startribune.com/world/270931601.html

https://news.yahoo.com/syrian-kurdish-fighters-rescue-stranded-yazidis-172250706.html


President Obama, left, meets with National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice, right, on Tuesday, a day after throwing his support to Haider al-Abadi, who hopes to unseat Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. PETE SOUZA

[Fred Sanders]

1. Note to media, a helicopter still on the ground has not "crashed", and can not be shot down..idiots.

Further note,the ethnically and religiously different Muslim Kurds are risking their lives to rescue another ethnic non-Muslim group living in Kurdistan, the Yazidi. There is good news in this report.

America should join them, they are crying for help. Why only listen to the cries for more weapons?

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4. it's likely not as easy as just deciding to

a few allies are working on it.

According to statements released by the White House, leaders of both Britain and France have agreed to join the United States in providing help to the refugees, and that on Saturday Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to develop options to secure the civilians' safety.

The White House also said Obama and French President Francois Hollande agreed on the need for an "urgent, coordinated international response to the humanitarian disaster." The two leaders said they would work together on a longer term strategy to counter the Islamic State group.

http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-says-us-could-not-look-away-from-iraq/2408162.html

[morningfog]

2. It is amazing to watch the boundry lines and alliances shift so quickly.

It is a relief for so many to be off the mountain, even if still displaced refugees.

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3. promising, but the numbers of those trapped are believed to be higher than originally reported

. . . UN and others say those remaining could be as high as 30,000, while others say it may be lower.

Still, it is interesting to see a regional actor take some responsibility.