DEBAGA CAMP, Kurdistan Region—Khalaf Ahmed had a lucky escape from the Islamic State (ISIS) shortly after the Iraqi army drove the last of the radical militants from Haji Ali village in the Nineveh plains earlier this month.
“A lot of people couldn’t make it here,” says Ahmed, 25, now settled at Debaga refugee camp 30km south of Erbil. “We risked our lives and finally arrived here safely,”
Ahmed and many other Sunni villagers who have escaped ISIS in the last few months now want to become a voice for others still stuck under the iron fist of the Islamist group.
“Now we must be a voice for those who are still controlled by Daesh (ISIS) and are waiting to be liberated,” he added, trying daily to register himself with camp officials as a refugee. “I promised myself not to forget people who are now under the horror of Daesh,” he explained.
Ahmed and his fellow refugees believe that the world has been waiting too long to take the fight to ISIS.
“This is our message to America and the whole world: don’t waste time, hurry up and defeat ISIS before we lose more lives,” Ahmad said. “They (ISIS) are not as strong as they used to be. They have shortage of money and good fighters and are dealing with so many internal issues, so it is the right time to beat them in Iraq.”
Ahmed’s family including his 15-year-old sister Safa, were part of the group escape under intense ISIS mortar fire.
“They killed my uncle about seven months ago. They (ISIS) said he was spying for Iraqi army but I think he just hate them too much,” his sister Safa said.
Backed by coalition airstrikes the Iraqi army captured three villages from ISIS east of the Tigress River earlier this month as part of their slow advance towards Mosul. At least 20,000 refugees have arrived safely at the Debega camp.
Nahla Ibrahim, a 32-year-old mother of four, and her husband ended two years of living in constant fear by escaping to the Debaga camp.
“We waited for two years until finally liberated from Daesh (ISIS) murders. I can’t believe the whole world is watching what is happening to us and still not hurry up in defeating Daesh,” she said.
Ibrahim said that ISIS turned their village—75km southeast of Mosul—into a military base with tunnels dug underneath it.
“You can either say yes to Daesh anytime they talk to you, or you would simply be killed,” Ibrahim told Rudaw English.
Ibrahim’s voice was drowned among that of many women and girls who sat in the narrow corridors of the camp school and tried to convey their own stories of pain and misery under ISIS.
“It was all about killing people, shouting, cutting off hands, beheading and a life in which colors were forbidden. And all the misery happened in front of the eyes of my little sons and my daughters,” Ibrahim recalled her days under the extremist group.
Her husband Ali Yasin, 42, was worried that his families, especially his young children, are traumatized by the ISIS experience and would never be able to forget the violent scenes of hand chopping and beheadings.
The militants closed down schools and banned all forms of education except for teaching the Sharia and an extreme version of Islam. Yet Halda, a 12-year-old girl from Haji Ali village still went to school because she had a dream.
“I was attending school under Daesh (ISIS) but my brother wasn’t happy about that. Finally, my dad allowed me to continue my studies because I want to be a doctor and to achieve that you need to attend school and then university,” she told Rudaw.
Her brother, Mohamad Omar, said they had to pay for their children’s schooling which was a waste of money and “a dangerous place where kids are brainwashed by the militants.”
“We had to pay 30,000 Iraqi dinars every month and all they were teaching was how to use a gun and how a Muslim individual must act,” he said. “But my family had no other alternative and my sister is young and wanted to attend school with her friends.”
Sitting on his wheelchair and listening to the story of his fellow refugees, Hikmat Asif, another one of the 3,000 refugees who made it to the safety of Debega, said: “We waited too long,” His brother was beheaded by ISIS on charges of spying for the Iraqi army.
“Today after two years I am free again but my brother is no longer among us and that is so sad. So this liberation was not without a cost.” Asif lamented.
Escaping ISIS was a great achievement in his life which brought him peace, said Asif, but “The peace we found by escaping Daesh (ISIS) means a lot to us, but I am also thinking of our future and the relatives and friends who were left behind in Mosul or towns and cities occupied by Daesh killers,”
“Anyone who has experienced life under ISIS knows liberation tastes exactly like a rebirth,” he said in an emotional voice.
“A lot of people couldn’t make it here,” says Ahmed, 25, now settled at Debaga refugee camp 30km south of Erbil. “We risked our lives and finally arrived here safely,”
Ahmed and many other Sunni villagers who have escaped ISIS in the last few months now want to become a voice for others still stuck under the iron fist of the Islamist group.
“Now we must be a voice for those who are still controlled by Daesh (ISIS) and are waiting to be liberated,” he added, trying daily to register himself with camp officials as a refugee. “I promised myself not to forget people who are now under the horror of Daesh,” he explained.
Ahmed and his fellow refugees believe that the world has been waiting too long to take the fight to ISIS.
“This is our message to America and the whole world: don’t waste time, hurry up and defeat ISIS before we lose more lives,” Ahmad said. “They (ISIS) are not as strong as they used to be. They have shortage of money and good fighters and are dealing with so many internal issues, so it is the right time to beat them in Iraq.”
Ahmed’s family including his 15-year-old sister Safa, were part of the group escape under intense ISIS mortar fire.
“They killed my uncle about seven months ago. They (ISIS) said he was spying for Iraqi army but I think he just hate them too much,” his sister Safa said.
Backed by coalition airstrikes the Iraqi army captured three villages from ISIS east of the Tigress River earlier this month as part of their slow advance towards Mosul. At least 20,000 refugees have arrived safely at the Debega camp.
Nahla Ibrahim, a 32-year-old mother of four, and her husband ended two years of living in constant fear by escaping to the Debaga camp.
“We waited for two years until finally liberated from Daesh (ISIS) murders. I can’t believe the whole world is watching what is happening to us and still not hurry up in defeating Daesh,” she said.
Ibrahim said that ISIS turned their village—75km southeast of Mosul—into a military base with tunnels dug underneath it.
“You can either say yes to Daesh anytime they talk to you, or you would simply be killed,” Ibrahim told Rudaw English.
Ibrahim’s voice was drowned among that of many women and girls who sat in the narrow corridors of the camp school and tried to convey their own stories of pain and misery under ISIS.
“It was all about killing people, shouting, cutting off hands, beheading and a life in which colors were forbidden. And all the misery happened in front of the eyes of my little sons and my daughters,” Ibrahim recalled her days under the extremist group.
Her husband Ali Yasin, 42, was worried that his families, especially his young children, are traumatized by the ISIS experience and would never be able to forget the violent scenes of hand chopping and beheadings.
The militants closed down schools and banned all forms of education except for teaching the Sharia and an extreme version of Islam. Yet Halda, a 12-year-old girl from Haji Ali village still went to school because she had a dream.
“I was attending school under Daesh (ISIS) but my brother wasn’t happy about that. Finally, my dad allowed me to continue my studies because I want to be a doctor and to achieve that you need to attend school and then university,” she told Rudaw.
Her brother, Mohamad Omar, said they had to pay for their children’s schooling which was a waste of money and “a dangerous place where kids are brainwashed by the militants.”
“We had to pay 30,000 Iraqi dinars every month and all they were teaching was how to use a gun and how a Muslim individual must act,” he said. “But my family had no other alternative and my sister is young and wanted to attend school with her friends.”
Sitting on his wheelchair and listening to the story of his fellow refugees, Hikmat Asif, another one of the 3,000 refugees who made it to the safety of Debega, said: “We waited too long,” His brother was beheaded by ISIS on charges of spying for the Iraqi army.
“Today after two years I am free again but my brother is no longer among us and that is so sad. So this liberation was not without a cost.” Asif lamented.
Escaping ISIS was a great achievement in his life which brought him peace, said Asif, but “The peace we found by escaping Daesh (ISIS) means a lot to us, but I am also thinking of our future and the relatives and friends who were left behind in Mosul or towns and cities occupied by Daesh killers,”
“Anyone who has experienced life under ISIS knows liberation tastes exactly like a rebirth,” he said in an emotional voice.
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