Tens of Thousands of Iraqi Children Stranded, Facing Death After ISIS Advance

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CNS News:

(CNSNews.com) – A humanitarian tragedy is looming in northwestern Iraq, where up to 25,000 children, mostly from the minority Yazidi community, are among those who fled ahead of advancing Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) jihadists and are now stranded without water or supplies in arid, mountainous terrain.

The U.N. Children’s Fund in Iraq said Tuesday at least 40 children were already reported to have died, “as a direct consequence of violence, displacement and dehydration over the past two days.”

Tens of thousands of people fled as ISIS seized control of the town and district of Sinjar west of Mosul at the weekend, pushing back Kurdish “peshmerga” forces who had been providing security there.

“Families who fled the area are in immediate need of urgent assistance, including up to 25,000 children who are now stranded in mountains surrounding Sinjar and are in dire need of humanitarian aid including drinking water and sanitation services,” said UNICEF’s Iraq director, Marzio Babille.