Shiite Turkmen in northern Iraq facing off with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant forces may receive humanitarian aid requested by the Obama administration, according to The Associated Press. The Turkmen have been under siege from ISIL forces for weeks, and now defense officials are focused on militants moving toward the Iraqi town of Amirli just 105 miles north of Baghdad. Currently, it is estimated that between 12,000 and 15,000 individuals have no access to food or water.
The situation
According to Fox News, Shiite Turkmen clashed with ISIL forces weeks ago. Residents of Amirli put up a fierce resistance against ISIL militants, preventing them from entering the town, but now the Sunni forces have cut off Amirli from the outside world, depleting their resources and leaving the people without fresh water, food or medicine despite airdrops coordinated by the Iraqi military. ISIL forces have blocked off roads to and from the town as well, cutting off any routes of escape other than by air. The United Nations has warned of a possible massacre that may occur within days.
Taking Amirli is part of ISIL's broad offensive to commandeer large clusters of land from Syria to western and northern Iraq. Fueling the fight against Amirli's residents is the militant group's disdain for Iraqi minorities, including the Shiite Turkmen – which make up Iraq's third-largest ethnic population, according to Fox News. Thousands of Turkmen have already had to flee their homes across the nation since ISIL forces captured the city of Mosul and a number of other towns and villages.
The second humanitarian mission
This would not be the first humanitarian mission in Iraq. Earlier this month, U.S. servicemembers delivered humanitarian aid to thousands of Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar by ISIL militants, according to a White House press release. Several airdrops delivered 114,000 meals and 35,000 gallons of fresh water to the threatened individuals – who numbered in the tens of thousands. That mission was carried out successfully after U.S. military advisors traveled to Mount Sinjar to find that the civilians used many of the resources before sneaking away from Mount Sinjar and evading ISIL forces over a series of nights.
Civilians on Mount Sinjar were also assisted by American airstrikes against ISIL targets. It is unclear if U.S. forces will use airstrikes to assist the people in Amirli or if airstrikes will be used primarily for the defense of U.S. officials in Baghdad.