With 'far fewer' Yazidis stuck on Iraqi peak than thought, rescue less likely

The United States said its troops found "far fewer" Yazidi refugees marooned on a northern Iraqi mountain than expected, making an evacuation mission less likely, after air strikes pummelled besieging Islamic militants.

The UN refugee agency has said tens of thousands of civilians, many members of the Yazidi religious minority, remain trapped on Mount Sinjar by jihadists from the so-called Islamic State (IS), which has overrun large swathes of Iraq and Syria in a lightning and brutal offensive.

But the Pentagon said on Wednesday that - based on a direct assessment by a small party of US troops - the plight of those on the mountain was better than feared, and an evacuation mission "is far less likely".

A US military official said the special forces soldiers had returned safely to base at Arbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

Two US officials said that roughly 4,500 people remained atop the mountain, and nearly half were herders who lived there before the siege and had no interest in being evacuated.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said that the troops, which numbered fewer than 20, did not engage in any combat.

"The team has assessed that there are far fewer Yazidis on Mount Sinjar than previously feared, in part because of the success of humanitarian air drops, air strikes on ISIL [IS] targets, the efforts of the [Kurdish] peshmerga [fighters] and the ability of thousands of Yazidis to evacuate from the mountain each night over the last several days. "The Yazidis who remain are in better condition than previously believed and continue to have access to the food and water that we have dropped."