Britain has deployed SAS special forces in northern Iraq where thousands of civilians are trapped on a mountain by fighters, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday.
\nCiting Britain’s trade envoy to Iraq, Emma Nicholson, the paper said that officers from the Special Air Service (SAS), the army’s special forces regiment, were working with U.S. troops to gather intelligence and had been in Iraq for about six weeks.
\nWhen asked about the newspaper report, a spokesman for Britain’s Ministry of Defence said it did not comment on special forces operations.
\nBritain has sent military planes and helicopters to the region to help deliver humanitarian aid.
\nPrime Minister David Cameron cut short his summer holiday on Wednesday to say that Britain would be involved in any international plan to rescue refugees from the Yazidi religious minority.
\nThe Yazidi have been forced into the Sinjar mountain range by the advance of ISIL fighters into the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
\nThe United States has said that a mission to rescue the refugees was far less likely than originally thought after an assessment team sent on Wednesday sound the humanitarian situation was not as grave as expected.<\/p>\n