Members of a minority sect known as Yazidi are currently stranded on a remote mountain in Iraq—facing extreme thirst and starvation—after being driven from their homes by “The Islamic State,” also known as ISIS. The radical Sunni Muslim group has recently overtaken villages across Iraq, brutally executing locals who do not conform to their strict ideology. According to The Washington Post, the Yazidi are considered “ to be devil worshippers and apostates” by the Islamic State.
Forced to flee to the isolated Mount Sinjar, thousands remain trapped and are faced with increasingly dire circumstances. The Iraq representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told The Post, “There are children dying on the mountain, on the roads. There is no water, there is no vegetation, they are completely cut off and surrounded by Islamic State. It’s a disaster, a total disaster.” The U.N. has offered to help provide airdrops of water and food to the stranded families, but the Iraqi government has not yet formally asked for assistance …
