US underscores its commitment to support communities suffered under ISIS
The Secretary of State revealed that they have invested some $500 million specifically targeted toward the recovery of communities that were most affected by ISIS.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday reaffirmed US support for the “communities that most suffered under ISIS,” during his meeting with Yezidi Civil Society Leaders.
The Secretary of State revealed that they have invested some $500 million specifically targeted toward the recovery of communities that were most affected by ISIS.
“Over one million Iraqis remain displaced inside Iraq, including about 300,000 Yezidis; 2,600 Yezidis remain missing and unaccounted for. We are determined to find them, to learn their fates, and to rescue those who remain alive,” Blinken added.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Sunday confirmed that over one million Iraqis continue to be internally displaced, with around 150,000 living in camps in the Kurdistan Region.
Moreover, the Secretary of State stressed the US commitment to “supporting the ongoing recovery of the communities that most suffered under ISIS, delivering accountability to those responsible for this tragedy, and ensuring that this can never happen again and that ISIS will not resurge.”
On Aug. 3, 2014, ISIS militants attacked the Yezidi-majority town of Sinjar and nearby villages, killing at least 5,000 Yezidis as well as enslaving about 6,000 women and minors. Around 400,000 others were displaced by the offensive.
Most of the religious community fled to the Kurdistan Region, while others resettled in neighboring countries or Western states.
Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone, where they experienced atrocities and mass executions at the hands of the extremist group for years. Militants subjected women and girls to sexual slavery and human trafficking kidnapped children, forced religious conversions, and executed scores of men.
Over the nine years since then, much of Sinjar remains in rubble, and very few of its former residents have returned to their homes.
The Kurdish-Kurmanji-speaking community has suffered at least 72 genocides.
European countries, including Germany, have hosted a significant number of Yezidis fleeing violence. Nearly 10,000 Yezidis were killed or kidnapped by ISIS.
The United Nations later recognized the atrocities against the Yezidi people as genocide.
More than 3,500 Yezidis have been rescued so far, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is a militant extremist group that follows a fundamentalist, Salafi jihadist doctrine of Sunni Islam. It expanded its influence in Syria during the Syrian Civil War. The group is known for its brutal tactics, including mass executions, and aims to establish a caliphate governed by strict Sharia law.