Mount Sinjar

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Kurds Make Dark Finds in Former ISIS Territory

Two mass graves found in Sinjar after terror group driven out last week

(Newser) - Kurdish forces said Sunday they uncovered two mass graves outside Sinjar, a northern Iraqi town near the Syrian border that was ruled by ISIS for more than a year before the extremists were driven out last week . The first grave uncovered was west of the town's center near the...

'They Did Bad Things:' ISIS Releases 200 Yazidis

Mostly elderly, in poor health, showing signs of abuse

(Newser) - The Islamic State group released about 200 Yazidis held for five months in Iraq, mostly elderly, infirm captives who likely slowed the extremists down, Kurdish military officials said today. Almost all of the freed prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect. Three were young children....

Kurds Break ISIS Mountain Siege

Yazidis still on Sinjar can now flee

(Newser) - Iraqi Kurdish forces battling ISIS militants managed to open up a key corridor yesterday so that thousands of people from the country's Yazidi minority who have been trapped on a mountain can flee, a senior Kurdish official says. The development was an incremental step in the battle to retake...

ISIS Sells Women Into Marriage for $1K Each: Report

The Islamic State considers Yazidi women 'spoils of war': report

(Newser) - The Islamic State has "distributed" about 300 Yazidi women to its jihadist fighters as spoils of war, CNN reports. The Islamic State, or ISIS, kidnapped the women when it attacked Yazidi villages and forced tens of thousands to flee earlier this month, according to a British group monitoring the...

'At Least I'm Alive': Inside a Deadly Iraq 'Copter Crash

Helicopter went down trying to save Yazidis

(Newser) - A crashing helicopter full of Yazidi refugees goes down too quickly to describe—so Alissa Rubin, a veteran New York Times reporter, writes more about the others on board during the crash this week . Yazidi member of Parliament Vian Dakhil, who had given a "heart-rending" speech advocating the rescue...

US: Airstrikes Worked, Iraqi Rescue Not Needed

Military advisers find 'far fewer' Yazidis on mountain than expected

(Newser) - It looks like the US won't have to launch a mass evacuation of Iraqis trapped on a mountain after all. A small team of American military personnel who spent 24 hours on Mount Sinjar said US airstrikes seem to have done the trick—most of the trapped Yazidis who...

US Sends More Troops to Iraq
 US Sends More Troops to Iraq 
Aug 13, 2014 7:57 AM CDT

US Sends More Troops to Iraq

Maliki in talks to step down as France sends weapons to Kurds

(Newser) - Another 130 Marines and special operations forces have been sent to Iraq to help rescue tens of thousands of Yazidi refugees still trapped on a mountain, but this "is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says. Speaking at California's...

Helicopter Overloaded With Rescued Iraqis Crashes

Pilot appears to be only fatality; 2 journalists among those injured

(Newser) - An Iraqi helicopter that brought supplies to tens of thousands of Yazidi minorities still trapped on Iraq's Mount Sinjar crashed today because too many refugees clambered on board, an Iraqi military spokesman tells the AP . The pilot is apparently the only fatality. New York Times journalist Alissa Rubin, 56,...

20K Trapped Iraqis Rescued From Mountain

Yazidis aided by Kurdish rebels

(Newser) - Today brought word from officials that militants in Iraq killed some 500 members of the Yazidi minority community, but much better news is also emerging: With tens of thousands of Yazidis trapped on a mountain by militants, about 20,000 of them have managed to flee within the past 24...

Obama Mulls Airstrikes, Aid to Help Trapped Iraqis

Decision on Yazidi surrounded by Islamic State expected 'imminently'

(Newser) - Both passive and active options are on the table as President Obama decides how to handle the humanitarian catastrophe developing at Iraq's Mount Sinjar , says a senior administration official who spoke to the New York Times . The passive alternative: Airdrops of food and much-needed medicine to the 40,000...

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