Iraq crisis: ‘There’s a lack of water ... they are suffering in the heat and the dirt’

As Islamic State militants march through Iraq, thousands of terrified Assyrian Christians are fleeing to seek refuge in Irbil, capital of the nation’s Kurdish region. As conditions deteriorate, Mark Blunden reports on their plight
Desperate: refugees rush to collect aid in Irbil (Picture: Allen Kakony)

Refugee children inside Irbil, capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region, are developing painful skin conditions because of 48C temperatures and a lack of access to bathing facilities, campaigners warned today.

Medication, food and water are running low in the city’s shelters, and the hospitals are struggling to cope with the influx of thousands of refugees.

Persecuted Assyrian Christians, “frightened to death” by Islamic State (Isis), fled their homes as word spread the militants were advancing.

When Isis arrive, those not driven from their families and jobs are told to convert to Islam or face death. Irbil resident Esho Esho said the men handing out flyers on Oxford Street this week supporting Isis’ “Caliphate” might think twice if they could witness the human catastrophe “with their own eyes”.

Isis has surged across northern Iraq trying to eradicate “unbelievers”, including Christians and Yazidis. Some 200,000 Assyrian Christians are thought to have fled, and campaigners today urged Britain to push for a safe haven in their homeland.

Innocents: Assyrin Christian children in Irbil (Picture: ADFA – Allen Kakony)

Photographs taken this week by A Demand for Action, a global initiative supporting the protection of the ancient religious minority, show the very young and the elderly sheltering in Irbil’s churches, schools and public buildings, which are running low on food, water and medication.

Irbil’s parks and subway tunnels are also filling up with people. The frontline, where Kurdish peshmerga fighters are trying to hold back the jihadists, is only a 20-minute drive from the city centre. Hospitals in Irbil, one of the world’s oldest cities, are struggling to cope with refugees while also trying to treat the peshmerga.

Assyrian Christians in London are wiring them money for food and doctors’ bills. Speaking to the Standard by telephone from Irbil, civil engineer Mr Esho, 31, said: “People, especially the children, are getting a lot of diseases on their skin. Most of it is because of the heat and not taking showers.

“There’s a serious shortage of water and food in the refugee camps.

He added: “Most of the people ran away before Isis take over their city or town. They were frightened to death just hearing that Isis were coming. In Qaraqosh, there was an Isis mortar attack at 10am and by 10pm the city had emptied of Christians.

Bedding down: mothers with their children in Irbil (Picture: ADFA – Allen Kakony)

“They were trying to get into the churches, but IS have taken the church crosses down and hoisted their black flags instead. The have very heavy and advanced weapons, rockets, mortars and tanks. We have got the manpower, but we have only rifles.” Savina Dawood, an ambassador for A Demand for Action, said: “In regards of food it’s getting better but water is an issue, it’s 48C. Some of them are sleeping on the ground and 95 per cent of them haven’t showered. There are many women who have got allergies on their bodies from the heat and the dirt.”

Jemil Al Bazi, from Ealing, said his family in Iraq, all farmers and teachers, fled their home when Isis arrived in the Nineveh plains region. He said: “My family left everything, squeezed into one car and drove 80km north when Isis came. Now five children and three adults are living in one small room.”

His brother-in-law’s wife gave birth to a daughter yesterday. They keep in touch on Facebook, and Mr Al Bazi, who is unemployed, wired them $100 to go towards medical bills. Mr Al Bazi, 60, said: “The Assyrian community needs a safe haven and their own army, Britain has to help the Assyrian people, my uncle was one of our soldiers who stood man-to-man with the British in Iraq in Second World War.”

Refugee John George, 26, said: “I think Christians in Iraq will be finished.”

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