The homes of these thousands of people, remnants of an ancient sect driven out by the jihadists of Islamic State, are lost and will not be recovered any time soon.

On the mountain, as dawn rises, no-one knows when aid is coming today, or whether any is coming at all.

Another day of temperatures above 100F, and too little water to drink, is beginning.

It reveals thousands of impoverished, exhausted and hungry people sleeping rough on the hard ground, speckled with the jagged rocks that smashed so many of the water bottles dropped from above. A Red Crescent official estimated 40 to 50 per cent of the supplies thrown out of US Air Force supply planes were destroyed on impact.