The Pentagon has flatly denied a New York Times report that the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq Thursday. ABC News, however, reports that airdrops of humanitarian aid have begun.
.@MarthaRaddatz confirms the humanitarian airdrops in northern #Iraq have begun
— Ali Rogin (@AliRogin) August 7, 2014
The United States is sending cargo planes to drop pallets of humanitarian aid and supplies to stranded Iraqi citizens threatened by the militant Islamic group ISIS, according to U.S. officials.
The air drops have begun, officials told ABC News.
The emergency effort is being deployed to help a group of 40,000 Yazidis, a group of ethnic Kurds, who fled villages in northern Iraq under threat from ISIS.
The Yazidis fled to the Sinjar Mountains, in a remote part of northern Iraq near the border of Syria, where they are stuck without food or water while ISIS forces are gathered at the base of the mountains.
Just one minute, though; some say the Pentagon denies these airdrops as well.
Confusing afternoon on twitter. pic.twitter.com/TXYCGyu3Hl
— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) August 7, 2014
JUST IN: Pentagon tells CNN’s @JimSciutto that humanitarian air drops have *not* started & no decision has been made to conduct them
— Vaughn Sterling (@vplus) August 7, 2014
Glad we cleared that up. pic.twitter.com/oGAQxHZyBb
— Matt Ford (@fordm) August 7, 2014
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Update:
Pentagon confirms @MarthaRaddatz's report: US military dropped "critical meals and water" for Iraqi citizens threatened by ISIS near Sinjar
— jonkarl (@jonkarl) August 8, 2014
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