EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) – President Barack Obama is considering a range of military options, including airlifts and creating safe passages, for rescuing thousands of Iraqi refugees trapped on a mountain, and is expected to make a decision in days, the White House said Wednesday.
Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said that while the U.S. has been delivering food and water to the refugees, it was unsustainable to let the refugees remain on the mountain.
“There needs to be a lasting solution that gets that population to a safe space where they can receive more permanent assistance,” Rhodes told reporters traveling with the president during his vacation on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard.
The Pentagon sent 129 U.S. troops to Iraq on Tuesday to assess the scope of the humanitarian crisis and the options for getting them safely off the mountain. Rhodes said the situation was urgent and Obama was expected to evaluate the recommendations quickly.
Thousands of Iraqi religious minorities sought refuge on Sinjar Mountain after militants from the Islamic State group swept through their village in northern Iraq.