Even in the recent violent and wretched history of Iraq, the year 2014 stands out. As DAESH forces swept through parts of Iraq, seizing the second largest city, Mosul, in early June, an estimated 500,000 people fled their homes to escape ethnic and sectarian persecution, murder and enslavement (OCHA 2014). As overwhelming as that movement of people was for both the people and government of Iraq, that was not the worst of it. The nadir was to come in the first days of August when DAESH forces attempted to wipe the Yezidi people from the pages of history. Holding Yezidi communities in the area of Sinjar under siege for weeks, DAESH forces first abducted the women and girls. Those who remained in the besieged communities had the options of either converting to DAESH’s jihadist, Salafist version of Wahhabi Sunni Islam, or being killed. Those who could, fled. Seeking safety in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, tens of thousands of families made for the city of Dohuk. Thousands of others became trapped on the rocky massif of Mount Sinjar by encircling DAESH forces. On Monday, 4 August 2014, and for several days thereafter, a weary stream of people filed from horizon to opposite horizon along the road leading into the Kurdish region of Iraq as Nineveh province was being emptied of humanity. Some walked. Some families drove. Many more sat packed in the backs of lorries or pick-up trucks, their hands clutching small children and the few belongings they had managed to bring with them. Others pushed their failed cars across the bridge over the Tigris at Faysh Khabur.

As if in the midst of some slow-moving, apocalyptic marathon, Iraqi Red Crescent volunteers handed out sandwiches and bottles of water to the hungry hands moving past them. After crossing the bridge over the Tigris many families stopped and sat on the berm. Their faces showed relief, anguish, confusion. Having escaped the violence behind them, they now faced an uncertain future. Their plans had not extended past reaching safety. That accomplished, they did not know what to do, or where to go. Eerie calm reigned.

This belied the frenzy of the residents of the nearby city of Dohuk, some of whom were speaking by mobile phone to those trapped on Mount Sinjar.