A survivor of a deadly helicopter crash recounts efforts by Kurdish Peshmerga, Iraqi Army U.S. Special Forces, and Syrian YPG fighters to save civilians from ISIS militants and starvation.
Outside the zone of American air strikes, Kurdish forces are reeling as insurgents advance in Jalawla, extending their control into a key pocket of land between Kirkuk, Sulaimaniya, Baghdad and Iran.
Security already on high alert due to increased push by ISIS.
Anti-government forces lose ground in areas of northern Iraq heavily populated by people and oil reserves.
The U.S. has made humanitarian air drops and prepared to give air support to out-gunned Peshmerga, whose recent retreats have left cities and key infrastructure exposed.
The combined efforts of the Iraqi and Kurdish governments have not rescued the thousands of civilians threatened with imminent death after the most recent ISIS offensive.
Many thousands of members of Iraq's Yezidi minority in Ninewa province are likely to die unless they can be rescued from extremist militants.
Syrian YPG, Iraqi Peshmerga have led a new force that retook Rabiaa from the so-called Islamic State, taking the fight to newly lost Sinjar and Zummar.
Insurgents control the area around Iraq's largest refinery, although their attacks have been consistently repelled by elite Iraqi commandos and helicopter gunships.
Militants have begun selling thousands of barrels per day of oil stolen from Iraq's traumatized energy infrastructure.
