16/08/2014 Reporters

Hello and welcome to this special edition of reporters, I am Tim

Wilcox. As the humanitarian crisis deepens and the militants in Iraqi

gather pace, we have reports across the region. Stranded on Mount

Sinjar, Paul Woods reports from the besieged Iraqi mountain. The

question remains, how are these people and a million other displaced

Iraqis going to get home when the Islamic state controls so much of

the country. The human tragedy of Barack's civil conflict. Caroline

Wyatt reports on the refugees who desperately need help. The real

focus is on how to look after the survivors and the sick and injured

who have come down from the mountains. Bridget Kendall assesses

the strategy of Britain's current intervention in Iraq. The United

Nations declared its highest level of emergency in Iraq because of the

humanitarian crisis in the north. It warned thousands of men, women and

children stranded on a mountain besieged by militants without food

and water were in desperate need of help. Later President Obama said

that air strikes had broken the siege of Mount Sinjar and conditions

were not as areas as previously thought. Paul Woods travelled to the

mountain to speak to the people still trying to reach safety. This

is the one road from Mount Sinjar not controlled by the Islamic state.

This harsh and Baron Touraine, the anyway of escape the tens of

thousands of Yazidi's if you are still making their way out on foot.

This family collapsed exhausted after getting here this morning.

Another family told me they had hidden the days, silent and

terrified before sneaking away, bodies in the streets. A few people

remained scattered across the mountain. They have cobbled together

a camp with supplies dropped by the RAF. It is brutally hot. They have

next to nothing. They say they have no choice but to flee. One man tells

me the jihadis put a gun to his head and told him to convert or die. Like

everyone here he says he will never abandon his faith. Sheltered

courtesy at the British taxpayer, they are profoundly grateful for the

aid they have received. They are also desperate for more military

help, they face genocide they say. First they came for the Christians,

then ask, yes CD `` Yazidi. If the international community will not

step in, all of us will be destroyed. The only soldiers

confronting the Islamic state in this part of Iraq are the Kurds, the

US and Britain aren't determined not to send troops. Even with US air

support there is not much the Kurds can do. They are stuck here along

with those who fled. More than 100,000 terrified Yazidi flowed over

this mountain, many of them at risk from dying of heat or thirst. A

humanitarian catastrophe has been averted, most people have moved on,

just a few stragglers left behind, but the question remains, how are

these people and a million other displaced Iraqis going to get home

when the Islamic state controls much of the country. The refugee camps

overstretched and they squat by the side of the road in despair. The

Yazidi do not hold out much hope of a foreign intervention to defeat the

jihadis. After thousands of years in this part of, these people are

afraid they no longer have place here. `` Iraq. Many of the thousands

of Yazidi who fled Mount Sinjar have reached the relative safety of the

Turkish border. Kurdish officials say the situation there is now

critical. 400,000 Iraqis have taken refuge in the province. Caroline

Wyatt reports from where people are in urgent need of tents, food and

water. Volunteer Kurdish medical teams have been risking their lives

to reach Mount Sinjar to reach the injured and sick. These are the

images they brought back. Over the past few days, the numbers are still

stranded there have diminished. But many of the most vulnerable

survivors are still arriving in Iraqi Kurdistan in urgent need of

treatment. On one day alone, the hospital treated up to 800

casualties. This man is 80. In the Exodus, even the old had to walk to

survive. He told me he had to go on foot down the mountain. For over 50

kilometres. His journey took days. Now the real focus is on how to look

after the survivors, how to treat the sick and injured who have come

down from the mountains and how to prevent any outbreak of disease

thanks to the conditions that many refugees are now living in. The

families who made it to safety remain in these abandoned buildings

or in schools in their tens of thousands. Maybe in a few days we

may face some diseases. We may have an epidemic of cholera, polio,

measles, because the places where they live now, they are just public

buildings, public parks. Existing refugee camps are already full, the

province is now home to 400,000 people fleeing Islamic state

fighters. Doubling population here. Support from outside is what they

need here and some of that was visible in the form of another RAF

air to Mount Sinjar. Although it seems there will be no US rescue

after American special forces landed on the mountain to assess what is

needed to be done. The bottom line is the situation on the mountain has

greatly improved and Americans should be very proud of our efforts,

because of the skill and professionalism of our military and

the generosity of our people we broke the siege of Mount Sinjar and

we help vulnerable people reach safety and we helped saved many in

some lives `` helps save many innocent lives. The UK are ready and

waiting to play their part in what ever it may be in bringing help to

Iraq. Three months ago a rock was essentially being left to itself,

now after the lightning land gripes my Islamic states, the West is now

being drawn back into the region. When the US and Britain refuse to go

into Syria for so long, why intervene in Iraq now? The British

commitment to northern Iraq is steadily increasing. Tornadoes to

provide surveillance for new age deliveries, now the government has

decided it should employ generic helicopters as well. There is a

balance to be struck between the risks of doing this and the accuracy

we can get to being relatively low. We take that into consideration when

planning these humanitarian missions. US involvement is growing

as well. There has only been a handful of air strikes to reduce the

Islamic state militant attacks. There are trainers on the ground.

When the US and Britain have so long refused to go into Syria, why

intervene in Iraq now? Far more than Syria, the US and its allies have

deep`seated interests in Iraq, due to its profitable oil industry and

for historical reasons as well. Two wars fought there since 1990, US led

occupation after the fall of Saddam Hussein. If Iraq implodes, the West

will share some of the blame. The big issue here is the safeguarding

and investment, they are safeguarding the investments of

other countries and that is what is happening. They see Iraq as being

more valuable from an economic and strategic standpoint and also being

more valuable from a security standpoint than Syria. If the West

wants its intervention to stay limited, what is the long`term

strategy? The short answer is to stave off the worst, an Islamic

state victory turning Iraq into a haven for terrorism. Or internal

sectarian tensions will tear the country apart. We want to buy time.

They have two preserve the government of Baghdad, preserve a

Kurdish autonomy to hold as much of Iraq together as possible. If they

do not do something, it will simply disappear. It is not just the

West's concerns over how to solve the crisis that matter, a new

central government in Baghdad strong enough to hold the country together

and came to the extremist threat will only work with support from

Iran as well. Turan's backing to the new Prime Minister is so important.

It could be Iraq's crisis is already out of control. And that is all from

this special edition of reporters on the Iraq crisis for this week. From

meeting Wilcox and the team, goodbye for now. `` from me, Tim Wilcox and

the team. I know it is only the middle of

August, but at times it could start to feel like early autumn, I have

said it. Some rain today, but a lot of sunshine as well. The rain coming