Crisis in Iraq
Thousands of people are fleeing their homes as the Iraqi army, Kurdish Peshmerga and coalition forces fight to retake Mosul — Iraq's second largest city — from the ISIS militant group.
Some 22,000 Iraqis have been displaced since the battle for Mosul began on October 17. Almost half of them are children.
People who fled surrounding communities are telling International Rescue Committee aid workers about the two years of terror they endured living under ISIS. Here, one woman describes how her family managed to survive under ISIS’s strict code of behavior and dress, and how they were finally able to escape as the military offensive began.
This mother managed to escape with her family as ISIS evacuated her village in northern Iraq during the first weeks of the Mosul offensive.
Photo: Theresa Breuer/IRC
Who: A mother*
Age: 35
From: An ISIS-occupied village just north of Mosul
Fled: Less than a week ago
Now staying in: Zelikan, a camp sheltering people displaced by the fighting
As ISIS left our village they asked us to come to Mosul with them. We told them there weren’t any men with us, so we can’t go with them yet. [ISIS forbids women to leave the house without a male relative.] We told them we would follow them just ten minutes later, but after they left we escaped.
We walked at night with our children and our sheep for nine hours until we reached the Peshmerga. We knew there were mines and other dangers, but we just prayed to God.
My children were very scared. They cried and were shaking. I told them to keep asking God for safety. We didn’t have anything to eat or drink for 18 hours.
Life under ISIS
I could never leave my house. They would whip my husband if they ever saw me sitting outside the house or not being totally covered up.
One day, my 13-year-old daughter was making bread outside when ISIS men saw she wasn’t veiled. They came and knocked on my door and demanded to see my husband so they could whip him. They said, ‘don’t you know this is forbidden?’
My husband wasn’t there, so they said he would have to come and see them in the evening. I knew he would be punished, so I begged them to forgive us. They gave me a warning: They said, ‘this is the last time — if we see this again we will punish you.’
ISIS are from all over the world. We saw people from everywhere even Europe. My brother was killed fighting ISIS in Qayyarah two months ago.
The family is staying in a tent in Zelikan, a camp for Iraqis displaced by fighting. "We just want to go back home, where we can look after ourselves," the mother says.
Photo: Theresa Breuer/IRC
We had a very nice life before. We had our house, our cars, our sheep. Then one day ISIS came to our village and we went from happy to miserable. I told my daughters, don’t speak with them. Don’t give them your real name if they ask you for your name. I didn’t let them leave the house.
Before ISIS came, they were in school — but afterwards I wouldn’t allow it. I saw from my neighbor what [ISIS] taught in their books: terrible, dirty things. It taught math like: ‘If you have two unbelievers and you shoot one, how many are left?’
We just want to go back home, where we can look after ourselves.
How the IRC helps
The IRC has been working in Iraq since 2003. As people flee the fighting in and around Mosul, we are providing emergency cash to displaced families to help them pay for rent, food and other basics. We will help displaced Iraqis access healthcare and other vital services. We will also provide activities for children to help them cope, and will ensure women and girls are protected and supported.