Chaos During Yazidi Airdrop

CNN photojournalist Mark Phillips captured a dramatic rescue of Yazidis during an Iraqi military humanitarian airdrop.

Burned by the sun, blistered with thirst and weak from exhaustion, thousands of Yazidis on Sunday fled the mountain on which they had been trapped for a week, streaming into Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region after a harrowing escape from extremist fighters that some said was aided by U.S. airstrike

Thousands are still stranded on the mountain, either because they are surrounded in their villages by militants with the Islamic State or are simply too weak to walk. Others have died trying to reach safety, falling by the wayside on the barren, rocky mountain for lack of food and water.

Airdrops of food and water — which apparently went awry — were followed by airstrikes, including four on Friday that targeted Islamic State positions around the mountain.

The exodus was touched off by an assault Aug. 3 by the Islamic State against the northeastern Iraqi town of Sinjar, where tens of thousands of members of the long-persecuted Yazidi faith live. They ran for their lives to Mount Sinjar, creating a humanitarian catastrophe that has captured the attention of the world and prompted President Obama to intervene.