Interactive: Iraq’s exodus
Iraqi civilians have been dragged into the country’s civil war as the Islamic State group (formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL) has taken over large swaths of land across central and northern Iraq, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. The onslaught this year has […]Sofia Barbarani and Alia Chughtai write for Al Jazeera :
Iraqi civilians have been dragged into the country’s civil war as the Islamic State group (formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL) has taken over large swaths of land across central and northern Iraq, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. The onslaught this year has displaced many of the country’s ethnic and religious minorities, who fear for their lives following the Islamic State (IS) group’s proclamation of a caliphate in the territory it controls in Iraq and Syria. The fast-moving crisis means that a safe place one day can become a target the next.
While media attention has focused on religious groups persecuted by IS because they do not adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam, hundreds of thousands of Sunni Muslims have also been displaced as a result of the violence. The Islamic State group’s takeover of Al Anbar governorate in January 2014 uprooted more than half a million Iraqis, mostly Sunni Arabs, from their homes.
