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Michael Fallon, the United Kingdom’s Defense Secretary, said that the British Air Force would drop food to Iraqi refugees running away from extremists in “the next couple of days” although the UK ruled out any military action, unlike the United States, who sent two fighter jets to Iraq.
The announcement came after the British Foreign Office urged Brits in Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah provinces in the Kurdistan region in Iraq to “leave now” as the fighting spread north.
Prime Minister David Cameron said that he was “extremely concerned by the appalling situation in Iraq and the desperate situation facing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.And I utterly condemn the barbaric attacks being waged by ISIL (now Islamic State) terrorists across the region”, he said.
On Friday, the Cabinet Office Briefing Room A (COBRA), the UK’s emergency committee, agreed to aid the US’ humanitarian operations in Iraq and send the Royal Air Force (RAF) to drop food for helpless refugees.
The food drops was intended to reach members of the Yazidi community, a minority 4,000-year-old faith, who had escaped militant forces to the Sinjar Mountains.
“What we have decided today is to assist the United States in the humanitarian operations that started yesterday. We are offering technical assistance in that in terms of refueling and surveillance.We are offering aid of our own which we hope to drop over the next couple of days in support of the American relief effort, particularly to help the plight of those who are trapped on the mountain”, Fallon said.
On Thursday, US President Barack Obama authorized US warplanes to drop humanitarian aid and agreed to targeted airstrikes that had begun on Friday.
A spokeswoman for the British Prime Minister’s office said that Britain, which had joined the Iraqi invasion of 2003, was “not planning a military intervention”.
“I welcome President Obama’s decision to accept the Iraqi government’s request for help and to conduct targeted US airstrikes, if necessary”, Cameron said in a statement.