The RAF has dispatched the first batch of UK aid to minorities under threat from Islamist fighters in Iraq.
Supplies including drinking water and tents are due to be dropped from C130 aircraft from RAF Brize Norton to help members of the Yazidi religious minority trapped on a mountainside by Islamic State (IS) militants.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is expected to chair a meeting of the government's Cobra committee this afternoon to assess the crisis.
The US has begun airstrikes against IS targets engaging Kurdish forces near the key city of Irbil, but Britain has ruled out military action at this stage.
Instead, David Cameron has signalled the UK will focus on delivering humanitarian aid - with large numbers of people displaced by fighting and the advance of IS in the north.
Thousands of Yazidis have been driven into the barren Sinjar mountains, and hundreds of women from the minority seized by the militants.
The UK's £8 million emergency package includes reusable filtration containers, tents, and solar lights which can also recharge mobile phones.
Some £3 million will go to charities and NGOs already on the ground and helping displaced people in northern Iraq, and £2.5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
A further £500,000 will be used to ensure Kurdish and UN systems can co-ordinate properly.
