Between 10,000 and 40,000 Iraqis have escaped to the mountains after ISIL militants overran the town of Sinjar, the historical home of the Kurdish minority Yazidi that had also served as a refuge for other groups.
The situation is dire as those people risk being slaughtered by terrorists if they choose to return to their villages or stay in the mountains and slowly die of thirst and hunger. About 40 children have already died from the heat and dehydration, according to the United Nations.
In meetings with his national security team at the White House on Thursday, President Obama weighed a series of options ranging from dropping humanitarian supplies on Mount Sinjar to military strikes targeting ISIL militants now at the base of the mountain, The New York Times reports, citing administration officials.
“There could be a humanitarian catastrophe there,” a second administration official told the Times, adding that a decision from Obama was expected “imminently.”
ISIL militants have terrorized entire communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Yazidis and others, as they continue their advances in Iraq.
An estimated 100,000 Christians have also been forced to flee from Nineveh Province into the Kurdistan region.
“Most of the displaced are now living in the open and face the threat of death because of scorching heat and lack of water and food,” said Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, adding, “It is a humanitarian disaster.”
Both White House and Pentagon officials have previously indicated that the United States would not take any military action in Iraq until Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stepped down.
Last month, the US sent more than 800 special operations troops to Iraq, including a contingent now stationed in Erbil, within the Kurdistan region.
Elissa Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that, “US troops are not engaged in a combat role in Iraq.”
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