Thousands from Iraq minority flee to Syria
By BASSEM MROUE
4 hours ago
BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands
of members of a religious minority group under attack by Islamic
extremists have fled across the border from Iraq to seek refuge with the
Kurds of northeastern Syria, said two Kurdish officials and an activist
on Saturday.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said thousands of people have fled from Iraq into Syria but had no exact number.
The U.S. has launched airdrops to aid thousands of Yazidis who have been trapped on a mountaintop near the Syria border for days by the militants.
The extremists have captured hundreds of Yazidi women, according to an Iraqi official, while thousands of other civilians have fled in fear as the militants seized a string of northern Iraqi towns and villages in recent days.
The Yazidis are a Kurdish speaking minority practicing an ancient pre-Islamic religion with links to Zoroastrianism.
Mohammed, a spokesman for the local administration in the Syrian city of Qamishli, said there are currently about 7,000 people in Norouz Camp, which has about 300 tents, as well as thousands others who have arrived in other parts of the region.
"We are doing all we can to bring them to Rojava," Mohammed said giving the name used by Kurds to refer to a predominantly Kurdish region in northeastern Syria. "People are dying on the way."
He added that some women have lost their children on the way because of exhaustion and fear. Talking about Yazidis who were able to make it into Syria he said they are arriving "in miserable conditions. They are barefoot, tired and left everything behind."
"If we don't help those people they will be subjected to genocide," said Mohammed referring to the people who are still in Iraq.
Mohammed said more than 20,000 Yazidis are on their way to Syria through the safe route but they and Kurdish fighters are coming under attack by Islamic State group fighters. He said that so far nine Kurdish fighters have been killed since Friday between Iraq and Syria while protecting the fleeing Yazidis.
Hasso, an official at administration of the Syrian Kurdish region known as Jazeera, said Kurdish fighters with the People's Protection Units were able to open the safe route Thursday night after intense clashes with the Islamic State that left dozens dead or wounded. He said the majority of Iraqis arriving are Yazidis in addition to a smaller numbers of Christians.
The units are dominated by members of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, Syria's most powerful Kurdish group, affiliated with the Turkish Kurdish movement PKK, which long fought for autonomy in southeastern Turkey.
Members
of the units have been fighting against jihadis in northern Syria since
last year and have been able to force them out of predominantly Kurdish
areas. The oil-rich northeastern Syrian province of Hassakeh has its
own Christians and Yazidis populations.
"Our
(local) government is on alert and we call upon international relief
agencies to come here and help us. We need tents, blankets and food,"
said Hasso by telephone from the Norouz camp. He added that three other
camps are also receiving Iraqis who are fleeing.
"The
conditions are catastrophic here and our capabilities are very modest,"
Hasso said adding that some Syrians have received Iraqis in their homes
while others are donating food and clothes.
The
Yazidis practice an ancient religion that the Sunni Muslim radicals
consider heretical. The Islamic state views Yazidis and Shiite Muslims
as infidels, and has demanded Christians either convert to Islam or pay a fine.
end quote from:
http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-iraq-minority-flee-syria-155655707.html
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