Yezidi MP: Militants Retreated from Villages to Escape Stench of Massacred Victims
LONDON — Islamic State (IS/ISIS) militants massacred so many people in attacks on Yezidi villages last month that the fighters themselves had to retreat from the stench, Iraq’s only Yezidi MP said at a conference in Belgium.
“ISIS retreated from several Yezidi villages because the scent of those they killed became unbearable,” Vian Dakhil said at the International Peace Meeting, held in Antwerp to mark the centenary of the First World War.
“So far, 5,000 Yezidi Kurdish women have been kidnapped, and they are aged between 13 and 56 years old,” Dakhil said at the three-day meeting, which concluded Tuesday.
“Before attending this conference, I saw 35 children who lost every single member of their family. They were all between four and six years old,” she added.
IS militants captured the Yezidi town of Shingal and surrounding villages last month, killing thousands of men, kidnapping hundreds of women and rendering tens of thousands homeless and fleeing to the Kurdistan Region for shelter.
Listing some of the crimes committed by IS against her community, Dakhil said: about 3,000 people were killed by hunger or the militants; women were sold in the markets of Mosul for $150 each; infants were taken from their mothers; 250 children died on Mount Shingal, where Yezidis fled from the IS and struggled for survival for more than a week.
“For 10 days, they lived this tragedy on this mountain. 250 children died, newborn babies died, many died eating tree leaves out of hunger,” the MP told the conference, receiving a standing ovation after her emotional plea.
Dakhil, who last month survived a helicopter crash while delivering aid to Yezidi refugees on the mountain, exploded in the world media when US President Barack Obama cited her plea for help to the Yezidis when he authorized airstrikes in August.
The IS has especially targeted non-Muslim minorities in Iraq, with the Yezidis coming in for the worst treatment because they are considered “unbelievers.”
“I call upon the international community to make a quick decision in order to free more than 5,000 kidnapped (people), the hundreds of girls who are being raped every day. I call on the international authority, the community of human rights and the UN to start an inquiry about the slaughter and massacre the Yezidis have been subjected to,” Dakhil told the gathering.
She also asked Western countries to grant asylum to Yezidis traveling abroad to escape IS persecution, and demanded weapons for Iraq´s minorities to defend themselves.
Yezidis number some 700,000 worldwide, with some 500,000 in mainly northern Iraq, where their communities have been devastated by the IS assaults. Internationally, Yezidis are scattered in Armenia, Georgia, Syria and Europe, particularly in Germany.
On Monday, the newly elected UN human rights chief, jordanian Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, said IS was trying to create a “house of blood” and urged world powers to protect minorities and women in Iraq and Syria.
“ISIS retreated from several Yezidi villages because the scent of those they killed became unbearable,” Vian Dakhil said at the International Peace Meeting, held in Antwerp to mark the centenary of the First World War.
“So far, 5,000 Yezidi Kurdish women have been kidnapped, and they are aged between 13 and 56 years old,” Dakhil said at the three-day meeting, which concluded Tuesday.
“Before attending this conference, I saw 35 children who lost every single member of their family. They were all between four and six years old,” she added.
IS militants captured the Yezidi town of Shingal and surrounding villages last month, killing thousands of men, kidnapping hundreds of women and rendering tens of thousands homeless and fleeing to the Kurdistan Region for shelter.
Listing some of the crimes committed by IS against her community, Dakhil said: about 3,000 people were killed by hunger or the militants; women were sold in the markets of Mosul for $150 each; infants were taken from their mothers; 250 children died on Mount Shingal, where Yezidis fled from the IS and struggled for survival for more than a week.
“For 10 days, they lived this tragedy on this mountain. 250 children died, newborn babies died, many died eating tree leaves out of hunger,” the MP told the conference, receiving a standing ovation after her emotional plea.
Dakhil, who last month survived a helicopter crash while delivering aid to Yezidi refugees on the mountain, exploded in the world media when US President Barack Obama cited her plea for help to the Yezidis when he authorized airstrikes in August.
The IS has especially targeted non-Muslim minorities in Iraq, with the Yezidis coming in for the worst treatment because they are considered “unbelievers.”
“I call upon the international community to make a quick decision in order to free more than 5,000 kidnapped (people), the hundreds of girls who are being raped every day. I call on the international authority, the community of human rights and the UN to start an inquiry about the slaughter and massacre the Yezidis have been subjected to,” Dakhil told the gathering.
She also asked Western countries to grant asylum to Yezidis traveling abroad to escape IS persecution, and demanded weapons for Iraq´s minorities to defend themselves.
Yezidis number some 700,000 worldwide, with some 500,000 in mainly northern Iraq, where their communities have been devastated by the IS assaults. Internationally, Yezidis are scattered in Armenia, Georgia, Syria and Europe, particularly in Germany.
On Monday, the newly elected UN human rights chief, jordanian Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, said IS was trying to create a “house of blood” and urged world powers to protect minorities and women in Iraq and Syria.