While Their Own Country Is Torn Apart By War, Syrians Are Giving Aid To Yazidis

[Sally]

What kindness the Syrian people have that they are able to help others amidst their own troubles.

While Their Own Country Is Torn Apart By War, Syrians Are Giving Aid To Yazidis

The Huffington Post | By Charlotte AlfredEmailPosted: 08/14/2014


Fleeing approaching Islamic State militants, tens of thousands of members of the Yazidi community in Iraq have found refuge in an unlikely place -- war-torn Syria.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said Thursday that at least 15,000 Yazidi refugees are sheltering in Syria's Kurdish north, after fleeing from Iraq in early August when the Islamic State captured Yazidi towns.

Wounded, weak and deeply traumatized by their flight through barren mountains in the blistering heat, the Yazidi refugees have been welcomed by Syrians, according to UNHCR. Local residents have helped transport refugees to safe areas, donated clothes and delivered home-cooked meals to the Newroz camp where the Yazidi refugees are sheltering, the agency said. A Kurdish official told the Associated Press that some Syrians have taken the Yazidis into their own homes.

“We are all here to at least offer a smile for the arrivals after what they have been through," a Syrian volunteer at a transit point for Yazidi refugees told the U.N. children's fund (UNICEF). The agency said more than half of the refugees arriving in Syria are children. “We just want a safe place,” said Roshan, a mother of six. “All countries are in war. I am tired."

Continue readint at:

While Their Own Country Is Torn Apart By War, Syrians Are Giving Aid To Yazidis

 

[waltky]

Yazidi Villagers Massacred By ISIS...

Iraq crisis: Yazidi villagers 'massacred' by ISIS
16 August 2014 - Militants in northern Iraq have massacred at least 80 men from the Yazidi faith in a village and abducted women and children, reports say.

Senior Kurdish official Hoshyar Zebari said the men were killed in two groups after a column of Islamic State (IS) vehicles arrived in Kawju on Friday. A US drone strike later destroyed two vehicles from the convoy, he said. Reports say warplanes have struck IS positions near the Mosul dam, captured last week. However, it is not clear whether US or Iraqi aircraft were involved. Residents near the dam told AP news agency that the air strikes were carried out on Saturday afternoon, killing some militants.

Kurdish regional Rudaw TV earlier said several surrounding towns were also struck. An official from US Central Command declined to go into detail. "For the safety and security of our personnel, we will not discuss or speculate on reports of ongoing or future operations," the official told the BBC. The dam controls the water and power supply to a large area of northern Iraq.

'Convert or die'

Before carrying out the massacre in Kawju village, ISIS fighters reportedly told men to convert to Islam or die. Mr Zebari, until recently Iraq's foreign minister, confirmed the attack after it was reported by Yazidi activists based in Washington. He told the BBC that a US drone strike was directed at two of the vehicles near the village of Salhieh.

The US military confirmed the destruction by drones of two vehicles identified as belonging to IS near Sinjar on Friday morning, after receiving reports from Kurdish forces that the militants were attacking civilians. Mr Zebari added that nearby Sunni Muslim villages had assured Kawju and other Yazidi villages that they would protect them from harm, but were unable to keep those assurances when ISIS decided to attack.

MORE

 

[aris2chat]

ISIS are taking women and plan to bred out blond hair and light eye from the population.

'ISIS want to impregnate Yazidi women and smash our blond bloodline': Fears grow for the 300 women kidnapped from Sinjar | Mail Online