SAS joins risky rescue bid

London – British special forces were in northern Iraq last night as London and Washington prepared to launch a high-risk operation to save up to 30,000 refugees trapped by jihadists.

SAS officers are helping the United States to plan for a mission in which American and Kurdish troops could be deployed into hostile mountain terrain close to bands of Islamist militants.

US President Barack Obama has yet to decide which is the best option to rescue the terrified members of the Yazidi religious sect. He has not ruled out putting troops on the ground, although Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser at the White House, said that any ground forces would not take on combat roles.

After a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee yesterday, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that ‘‘detailed plans are now being put in place’’ for an international mission to rescue the refugees and that Britain ‘‘will play a role in delivering it’’.

Any British participation would be unlikely to involve ground troops, government sources said, but no decision has been made other than it would be a ‘‘noncombat operation’’.

The mission could start by the end of the week and is likely to take several days. Survivors of the Yazidi community, too weak to make the arduous walk to safety, have been stranded in the Sinjar mountains in northern Iraq for more than a week in temperatures of up to 48 degrees Celsius. Many, including children, have perished from starvation, thirst and exhaustion.

Kurdish forces have been flying a few ageing Iraqi army helicopters to and from the mountaintop to save small groups from certain death, but a much larger operation is required to rescue the Yazidis, who fled after Islamic State (Isis) militants overran their town.

Two possible options presented by the Pentagon involve either a helicopter rescue mission in which US military personnel would have to be stationed in the mountains to ensure the refugees’ safe passage to the nearest airfield, or large numbers of ground troops protecting a land evacuation from the mountains through an enforced humanitarian corridor.

Should the air option be chosen, four RAF Chinook helicopters are on standby in Cyprus to take part alongside US aircraft. A small number of landing zones would have to be identified. They would need protection by Kurdish peshmerga, possibly supported by US special forces or marines. The refugees would be airlifted in batches and taken somewhere ‘‘very local’’ in northern Iraq or Iraqi Kurdistan, the government sources said.

Six Tornado fighter bombers have been sent to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to help to provide surveillance for any rescue mission.

Experts said a land corridor would need to be protected by hundreds, if not thousands, of troops.

US Marines would be the first choice for such a mission. This could mean direct confrontation with Isis fighters.

US commandos would be empowered to return fire in selfdefence. Rhodes singled out the British response to the humanitarian disaster for praise, words that will be welcomed by Cameron, who has faced pressure from his own MPs to do much more to respond to the disaster.

The deputy national security adviser, speaking at Martha’s Vineyard, where the Obama is on holiday, said Britain had been the ‘‘most forward-leaning’’ in backing the humanitarian effort and had said ‘‘they want to work with us to get the population to a safe place’’.

RAF cargo aircraft have made several trips to the Sinjar mountains to drop supplies for the stricken families.

Cameron, who spoke by phone to Iraq’s prime minister-designate, Haider al-Abadi, yesterday, has so far resisted pressure to recall Parliament amid a clamour for Britain to play a combat role with the US, which has been conducting air strikes.

The Liberal Democrats have made clear that they would not support Britain entering a military operation in the area or supporting the US in combat operations.

Despite a slow start, Cameron and Obama, both with the legacy of the 2003 Iraq war hanging over them, have increased their involvement in the campaign with each passing day. An extra 130 US military advisers, comprising special forces and marines, arrived yesterday in Irbil, capital of semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. The SAS liaison officers are also believed to be in the city.

The arrival of the 130 advisers brings to more than 1000 the number of American military personnel in Iraq involved in advising the Iraqi and Kurdish forces and protecting the US embassy in Baghdad and other US facilities.

Obama has vowed never to send ground troops back into Iraq, but the conditions for the refugees in the Sinjar mountains are deteriorating so rapidly that the United Nations believes that the only answer is to launch an international rescue.