Report: Britain deploys special forces in Iraq
Britain’s “Daily Telegraph” newspaper reports today that the British government has deployed Special Air Service (SAS) forces in northern Iraq.
The newspaper cites Britain's trade envoy to Iraq, Emma Nicholson, as saying that SAS officers, the army's special forces regiment, were working with U.S. troops to gather intelligence and had been in Iraq for “six weeks or more.”
Britain's Ministry of Defense said did not comment on the story.
Britain has sent military planes and helicopters to the region to help deliver humanitarian aid.
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Political transition
RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq spoke exclusively to figures from four major blocs about the political transition in the country and their reaction to Abadi's nomination:
Spokesman for the Supreme Islamic Council's "Citizen" bloc, Baligh Abu Gulel:
"A seven-man committee representing all the major factions has been formed to agree on the ground rules for forming the new government."
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani's media adviser, Kifah Mahmoud:
"We support PM designate Haider al Abadi's efforts to form a new government but it is premature to send a KRG delegation to Baghdad in this connection."
Mohammed al Khalidi, leading member of the Sunni "United for Reform" bloc:
"We will support Haider al Abadi in his efforts to form a new government in light of his response to our demands."
Leading member of Maliki's State of Law faction Kadhum al Sayyad:
"We suggest to wait for the federal court to rule on Maliki's complaint that nominating Haider al Aabdi as prime minister was unconstitutional before we proceed any further."
Maliki becomes even more isolated
Maliki’s Dawa Party has called on Iraqi politicians to work with his new prime minister-designate Abadi to form a new government, according to Reuters.
In a statement yesterday, the Dawa Party said it "called on political blocs to cooperate with the constitutionally designated prime minister, Mr. Abadi, and accelerate the formation of a government in the defined time period."
Maliki has refused to stand aside.
Camps set up for displaced
Thousands of people have poured into camps in the autonomous Kurdistan region. The UN as well as a number of countries are trying to set up a number of camps to meet rising demand.
Meanwhile, IS militants remain just outside of Irbil, the capital of autonomous Kurdistan region.
UN says humanitarian crisis at its highest level
The UN, however, sees a different picture to the one presented by U.S. officials.
UN special representative Nickolay Mladenov said yesterday that declaring Iraq a "Level 3 Emergency" will release additional goods and funds to help tens of thousands of people displaced by the IS.
Mladenov said Iraq was given the most serious level "given the scale and complexity of the current humanitarian catastrophe."
Mladenov said tens of thousands of people are reportedly still trapped on Sinjar Mountain "with health conditions quickly deteriorating." He said the situation in Dahuk, where more than 200,000 displaced Iraqis have fled, is also of "grave concern."
Iraq is the UN's fourth Level 3 humanitarian emergency, joining Syria, South Sudan and Central African Republic.
U.S. Rescue Mission Unlikely
The U.S. has said a rescue mission of displaced people from Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq is unlikely after determining there are fewer people stranded there than previously thought.
The Pentagon said in a statement that U.S. officials who visited the mountain on August 13 said the several thousand people living there are in relatively good condition.
It was previously thought that there were tens of thousands of minority Yezidis and Christians on the mountain.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel credited airdrops of water and food of sustaining those on Mount Sinjar and said U.S. air strikes had pushed back Islamic State militants, allowing thousands to escape the mountain.
The United States had been considering a rescue mission on the mountain in the belief that their situation was dire.
Hagel said U.S. military and relief efforts will continue.