While much of the rest of the world remains focused on the Gaza War, the crisis in Iraq continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate. The new phase of the crisis began on August 3, when the militant group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), captured three key towns in northwestern Iraq at the base of Sinjar Mountain. The capture of new territory is not in itself a particularly noteworthy event, seeing as ISIS has been very successful in capturing Iraqi territory since the start of its offensive in June. However, in this case, the real concern stems from the plight of a small, distinct religious group, the Yazidis, who ISIS considers heretical and are now under the threat of genocide. The threat of genocide in this situation is real. According to Michael Izady's detailed study of Iraq's religious demographics, Yazidis consist of roughly 2 percent of Iraq's population. The Yazidi religion is one of the oldest religions in the world, practiced for the last 6,000 years, and its adherents have long faced persecution. Writing in the Telegraph, Sean Thomas, who has studied the Yazidis, explains the peculiarities of this ancient religion: "Yazidism is syncretistic: it combines elements of many faiths. Like Hindus, they believe in reincarnation. Like ancient Mithraists, they sacrifice bulls. They practice baptism, like Christians. When they pray, they face the sun – like Zoroastrians. There are also strong links with Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam. Then there is the devil worship: arguably, the Yazidi worship what Christians or Muslims might call ‘Satan', though the Yazidi call him ‘Melek Taus', and he appears in the form of a peacock angel ... [who] led a rebellion in heaven: clearly echoing the story of Lucifer, [who was] cast into Hell by the Christian God." In an age of exacerbated religious divisions, the fact that the Yazidis worship a Satan-like divinity has been the primary reason why extremist Islamist groups, like ISIS or al-Qaeda, have targeted it for extermination. Indeed, since the fall of Saddam, attacks on Yazidis has steadily increased. According to a report this author drafted in 2012 for The Majalla, on April 2007, twenty-three Yazidis were pulled from a bus in Nineveh and shot dead and in August 2007, four coordinated suicide attacks destroyed two Yazidi towns in Nineveh, killing as many as 400 and wounding 1,562. Since then, the situation has remained relatively calm, at least until now. The Yazidis live predominantly in the areas surrounding Sinjar and to the east of Mosul. However, with the fall of Mosul in June, many Christians and Yazidis found safety in the Kurdish Region Government (KRG), but the same could not be said about the Yazidis living around Sinjar. In the early morning hours of August 3, ISIS militants launched an all-out offensive on the Yazidi-populated city of Sinjar. ISIS immediately went about consolidating its rule, destroying Shi'a shines, executing those who resisted it, overrunning local security forces, and hoisting its black flag above government buildings. Roughly 500 civilians were reportedly killed in the process and led to nearly 200,000 Yazidis to flee from the city, with between 10,000 and 40,000 seeking safe haven on steep, plateaued mountain above. But the situation in the mountains is dire. On August 3, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, issued a statement, warning that a humanitarian crisis was unfolding in Sinjar, and calling on the Iraqi government and the KRG "to put their differences aside and work closely together in addressing the urgent security needs of the nation, and adequately protecting and safeguarding the people and territorial integrity of Iraq." In an unusual gesture of conciliation, on August 4, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that he had ordered the Iraqi Air Force (IAF) to support the KRG's military, known as the Pesh Merga, in its fight against ISIS. This was a major development, because since the ISIS crisis began in June 2014, Maliki's government had been overtly hostile to the Kurds, particularly after the Pesh Merga seized control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk on June 11. Despite IAF support, ISIS managed to push back the Pesh Merga in a major battle to the east of Mosul on August 6, causing panic in the KRG's nearby capital, Erbil. This was escalated even further when Kurdish television reported that two Kurdish towns—Mahmour and Gwar—located less than 20 miles to the west of Erbil had fallen to ISIS. The Pesh Merga have since recaptured at Mahmour. Meanwhile, the Yazidis who had fled Sinjar have been trapped on the mountain-top without food or water since August 3 and are running out of supplies. More recently, the US has started a humanitarian air drop to help the trapped civilians. According to Vian Dakhil, a member of Iraq's parliament who represents the Yazidi community, at least 70 Yazidi children had died so far, warning, "There is a collective attempt to exterminate the Yazidi people." According to The Washington Post, the Iraqi government conducted two airdrops of aid to the desperate refugees on August 6, but humanitarian workers said they did not come close to meeting the growing need. Worse, UN officials have indicated that the Iraqi government has yet to take up an offer of technical assistance for airdrops. As a result, much of the needed aid had not been making its way to those trapped, who are rapidly running out of time in the extreme summer heat. As if the situation could not get worse, on August 7 reports began circulating that ISIS had captured Iraq's largest dam, triggering fears that if the dam failed it could unleash a 65-foot wave of water across areas of northern Iraq. This major development, when coupled with the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sinjar, appears to have forced the Obama administration to finally take action against ISIS, though its reluctance appears warranted. The reason for the delay, according to the New York Times, is that both White House and Pentagon officials have indicated privately that "the United States would not intervene militarily until Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki stepped down." However, the humanitarian crisis in Sinjar is forcing the administration's hand. On the afternoon of August 7 White House officials let it be known that President Obama is considering airstrikes on ISIS militants at the base of Mount Sinjar and airdrops of food and medicine to those trapped above, to help avert a humanitarian disaster.
