ERBIL, Iraq — The Khazir refugee camp was bursting at its seams early last week. Over 5,000 people had sought refuge there, with around 20 new families turned away every day. The crowded camp was hastily set up in the aftermath of ISIS ‘ sweeping victory over Mosul at the start of June and the sudden exodus of residents from the city fearing attacks by the militant extremists.
The Kurdistan Regional Government originally set up the camp in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The camp’s residents were put under Kurdish protection when thousands of people fled Mosul, seeking refuge in the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq.
But the camp lies abandoned now, after ISIS militants advanced toward it on Thursday. Kurdish Peshmerga forces pulled back from the camp and the surrounding areas — which lie right outside the Kurdish government’s official borders, but within Kurdish disputed territories — and told the 5,000 residents of Khazir that Kurdish forces could no longer protect them. The refugees ran.
Mariam Farahat, from Mosul, was one of those 5,000 who have now fled for the second time from the advancing, and increasingly sophisticated, ISIS. After overrunning Mosul two months ago, the militant group began implementing its own rule of law resembling a Taliban-style interpretation of Islam which includes the complete covering up of women and draconian punishments for smoking or not adhering to the newly formed ISIS principles. People caught violating these rules in public could face several lashes or even execution.
“Everyone is scared to go in the street in case Daash [Islamic State] get them,” Farahat, a Sunni Muslim told MintPress News. “They take the children, the women, the boys, they give them different names, and they can’t run away. When Daash catches you, you have to work with them and you cannot run away from them. Our ideas for life are so different from these people, we don’t understand how they think, but we know our beliefs are different from them.”
A dire situation
The situation for people like Farhat in Khazir was dire. Food, water, shelter and medical supplies were severely rationed. Hundreds are rumored to have fled into the Kurdish mountains in the north for safety — a centuries-old sanctuary from danger for Kurds in the past, and now for Iraqis, too.
Others have attempted to relocate to refugee camps within the Kurdistan autonomous region. Both Muslims and Christians of all sects are fleeing ISIS control, which is quickly expanding. Camps have started to appear in parks and places of worship around the capital of Erbil, as well as the outlying towns of Kalak and Ankawa, with Christians and Muslims offering refuge to one another.
One of those new camps is located at Mar Yousef Church, in Ankawa, a Christian town situated on the outskirts of Erbil. Residents told MintPress that no other media outlet had been to the makeshift camp since it was hastily set up four days ago.
The camp still has no tents. People there are forced to seek shelter from the relentless sun and up to 120-degree temperatures under trees, tables and blankets draped over bushes.
Many of the residents are from the Christian city of Qaraqosh, the largest Christian city in Iraq. In the early hours of the morning on Thursday, cries of “Allahu Akbar” could be heard outside the city’s ancient walls, and ISIS militants stormed the city not long after. The people of Qaraqosh fled — many on foot, running and walking for several hours before reaching safety. The city now lies deserted.
“They took my future away from me”
Rania Nawar, a teenager from Qaraqosh, told MintPress that her life has been turned upside down by the exodus. She believes she will never be able to return to her home again.
“They took my future away from me,” Nawar said. “My dreams are gone. I just want to go home, but if Iraq doesn’t want us to go home then let us go somewhere else, don’t keep us here as refugees. If I can’t go home then I want to leave Iraq.”
Food is in short supply, and a small group of volunteers sort and ration what is supplied to ensure that what they have can be spread around as much as possible. Donations from the community of Ankawa have been crucial, as U.N. supplies of water and food have been slow to arrive and in small quantities.
There is now an estimated one million refugees from Iraq in the autonomous Kurdish region — the majority from the northern provinces of Salahdeen and Nineveh, both of which are now virtually under complete ISIS control.
Selina, an elderly nurse from Qaraqosh, lived in the city her whole life. With ISIS militants declaring previously in Mosul that all Christians must either convert, pay large taxes, leave, or be executed, she knew she had to run when the militants advanced on her home. Like many of the refugees at Mar Yousef Church, Selina just wants to leave Iraq, fearing that if she does not, her sons will never have the future she wants for them.
“All we could do was get away,” Selina told MintPress. “We never made a difference between Muslims and Christians in Qaraqosh, we are all the same. Muslims always traveled to our hospital for care. We gave them quality care just like everyone else. For every one Christian who came in there were five Muslims. Why is this happening to us now? What have we done but treat everyone like equals? I am old, I don’t care about my future but for my sons I want to get out of Iraq, we can’t stay here.”
With the beginning of an air strike campaign against ISIS launched by the U.S. this past week, Kurds in Erbil and Ankawa have been celebrating. Still, tensions have been high in the city, as the militants are less than 40 kilometers from the center of Erbil. While airstrikes have been welcomed and seen as a protective force against the advancing ISIS, many refugees are angry that they are only happening now, after so many people have already been made homeless or killed, and millions continue to live under the rule of the ISIS.
“What is the world doing to help?” Nawar told MintPress. “Why does Obama say Erbil and Kurdistan are his red-lines? What about us? Why can’t Mosul or Qaraqosh be his red-line? Why is here protected but we were not protected in our homes?”