Helicopters Rescue Yazidis from Islamic State in Iraq

CNN’s Ivan Watson flew with Iraqi air forces to Mount Sinjar to drop aid to stranded Yazidis. The helicopter managed to rescue around 20 people. 

Watson’s picture of 15-year-old Aziza illustrates the treatment Yazidis received from the terrorist group the Islamic State.

“We landed on several short occasions, and that’s where – amid this explosion of dust and chaos – these desperate civilians came racing towards the helicopter, throwing their children on board the aircraft. The crew was just trying to pull up as many people as possible,” he said.

Watson said IS opened fire on the helicopter.

“They flew in shooting; they flew out shooting,” he said. “There was not a dry eye on the aircraft.”

The IS desires a worldwide caliphate. The jihadists slaughter anyone, even fellow Muslims, who stand in their way. Strict Sharia law is implemented in places IS controls.

Yazidi Iraq Member of Parliament Vian Dakhil appeared on TV on August 8 in an attempt to bring the religious minority’s dilemma to international attention. She told the story of one Yazidi woman.

“She said to me, ‘Four days ago, I fled my village with my five children after they had slaughtered my husband,'” she said. “‘Two of them died of thirst, and I left one, disabled, on the mountain. Now I am going on, trying to save my remaining two children.'”

On Tuesday, Dakhil participated in a mission to deliver aid to the Yazidis. The helicopter crashed, but Dakhil and her son survived. The pilot died. Matthew Barber, a student at the University of Chicago, recounted witness testimony about the aid helicopters. People told him the majority the aid from America was instantly destroyed since it was dropped without a parachute. Others said refugees stormed the helicopters that landed, but most were turned away. Some people were so desperate they clung to the sides, only to fall to their deaths.