Displaced Kazidi families remain in a desperate situation
- 10 years ago
Exhausted from travelling,members of the Kurdish minority Yazidi community have reached Camp Newroz in the Syrian Kurdish town of Malikiya after Islamic State militants captured their hometown of Sinjar.
After a long and dangerous trek, they arrived with nothing but the clothes they wore.
Thousands are in desperate need of food, shelter and medical attention.
“Nearly all of them have blisters on their feet, because they’ve been walking for a long time,” explained Doctor Hazhar Abdullah Ahmed from the Kurdish Red Crescent.
“Generally, they are very weak,” he said. “Many are dehydrated .. both the young and the elderly. Severe dehydration, which means they need liquids immediately.
“Others fell, so we have some patients with fractures in the hospital. Someone came in with infected wounds caused by shotguns,” added the doctor.
Yazidi families had been stranded on Mount Sinjar trying to flee the Islamic State militants, formerly known as ISIL, who threatened to kill members of the minority community if they don’t convert to Islam.
Meanwhile the British Royal Air Force has dropped emergency supplies, including drinking water and tents, for the displaced Yazidis into northern Iraq.
France has called for an urgent meeting of EU foreign ministers to consider Kurdish requests for arms and further humanitarian aid.
After a long and dangerous trek, they arrived with nothing but the clothes they wore.
Thousands are in desperate need of food, shelter and medical attention.
“Nearly all of them have blisters on their feet, because they’ve been walking for a long time,” explained Doctor Hazhar Abdullah Ahmed from the Kurdish Red Crescent.
“Generally, they are very weak,” he said. “Many are dehydrated .. both the young and the elderly. Severe dehydration, which means they need liquids immediately.
“Others fell, so we have some patients with fractures in the hospital. Someone came in with infected wounds caused by shotguns,” added the doctor.
Yazidi families had been stranded on Mount Sinjar trying to flee the Islamic State militants, formerly known as ISIL, who threatened to kill members of the minority community if they don’t convert to Islam.
Meanwhile the British Royal Air Force has dropped emergency supplies, including drinking water and tents, for the displaced Yazidis into northern Iraq.
France has called for an urgent meeting of EU foreign ministers to consider Kurdish requests for arms and further humanitarian aid.