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| Sunni Extremists Repel Kurdish Forces in Iraq | Sunni Extremists Repel Kurdish Forces in Iraq |
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| BARTELLA, Iraq — Sunni extremists repelled efforts by Kurdish pesh merga forces on Wednesday to push them back in areas east of Mosul in northern Iraq, and shelled a predominantly Christian village there, in what appeared to be a renewed push along the Kurdish border to take ground, control oil fields and water resources and expel minority groups. | |
| As artillery shells landed in the village of Qara Qosh, which is largely Christian, and plumes of smoke from the explosions drifted across the dry Nineveh plain just 25 miles from the Kurdish capital, Erbil, panicked residents fled in cars and pickups piled with their belongings, creating long lines at checkpoints guarded by the Kurdish pesh merga. | As artillery shells landed in the village of Qara Qosh, which is largely Christian, and plumes of smoke from the explosions drifted across the dry Nineveh plain just 25 miles from the Kurdish capital, Erbil, panicked residents fled in cars and pickups piled with their belongings, creating long lines at checkpoints guarded by the Kurdish pesh merga. |
| “We heard the sound of artillery,” said Ahmed, a father of three. “It was very close to us; the windows were shaking, and when I looked at my family’s faces, I had to leave.” | |
| He said he had fled a village near Sinjar, where there was fighting over the weekend, for Qara Qosh, but now was forced to flee again. “Everyone in my family was afraid to stay,” said Ahmed, who declined to give his last name. | He said he had fled a village near Sinjar, where there was fighting over the weekend, for Qara Qosh, but now was forced to flee again. “Everyone in my family was afraid to stay,” said Ahmed, who declined to give his last name. |
| Ever since Sunni militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria took over Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, on June 10, Iraqis have feared that Baghdad, to the south, is the insurgents’ goal. But in recent weeks, ISIS has concentrated on trying to push the Kurds back from areas where Sunnis also live along the border between Kurdistan and Nineveh Province. It has taken on the powerful Kurdish militias, which were thought to be a bulwark against the advance, and which control huge oil reserves in Kurdistan and broader parts of northern Iraq. | Ever since Sunni militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria took over Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, on June 10, Iraqis have feared that Baghdad, to the south, is the insurgents’ goal. But in recent weeks, ISIS has concentrated on trying to push the Kurds back from areas where Sunnis also live along the border between Kurdistan and Nineveh Province. It has taken on the powerful Kurdish militias, which were thought to be a bulwark against the advance, and which control huge oil reserves in Kurdistan and broader parts of northern Iraq. |
| By late Wednesday night, Kurdish television was reporting that two Kurdish settlements less than 20 miles west of Erbil — Mahmour and Gwar — had fallen to ISIS. | By late Wednesday night, Kurdish television was reporting that two Kurdish settlements less than 20 miles west of Erbil — Mahmour and Gwar — had fallen to ISIS. |
| In Baghdad, at least four bombings on Wednesday killed at least 30 people and wounded many more. | In Baghdad, at least four bombings on Wednesday killed at least 30 people and wounded many more. |
| The United Nations Security Council condemned the “widespread or systematic attacks against civilian populations because of their ethnicity” and noted it was especially concerned about the Yazidis, a minority sect that is neither Muslim nor Christian. | The United Nations Security Council condemned the “widespread or systematic attacks against civilian populations because of their ethnicity” and noted it was especially concerned about the Yazidis, a minority sect that is neither Muslim nor Christian. |
| The advances by ISIS have scattered Yazidis, Christians and other religious minorities. Since last week the group has pushed Yazidi people out of Sinjar, west of Mosul; advanced to within 12 miles of the Mosul dam, the country’s largest water system; and moved to pressure a Christian village west of Mosul, Tal Keyf, as it continued to evict Turkman Shiites from areas near the Syrian border. The Sunni militants view all Shiites as apostates. | The advances by ISIS have scattered Yazidis, Christians and other religious minorities. Since last week the group has pushed Yazidi people out of Sinjar, west of Mosul; advanced to within 12 miles of the Mosul dam, the country’s largest water system; and moved to pressure a Christian village west of Mosul, Tal Keyf, as it continued to evict Turkman Shiites from areas near the Syrian border. The Sunni militants view all Shiites as apostates. |
| For the Christians who have already fled Mosul, many of them stripped of anything valuable, including cellphones and jewelry, the artillery fire on Wednesday was enough to send them back onto the roads. Many had fled Mosul for villages like Bartella and Qara Qosh, small Christian enclaves close to the border with the Kurdistan region, but far enough from Mosul to offer a sense of safety. | For the Christians who have already fled Mosul, many of them stripped of anything valuable, including cellphones and jewelry, the artillery fire on Wednesday was enough to send them back onto the roads. Many had fled Mosul for villages like Bartella and Qara Qosh, small Christian enclaves close to the border with the Kurdistan region, but far enough from Mosul to offer a sense of safety. |
| Even Bartella residents, who had hung on for the last 18 days since their fellow Christians were forced out of Mosul, listened to the shelling overnight — which started at 1 a.m. and was still pounding at 10 in the morning — and began to think the better of their decision. | Even Bartella residents, who had hung on for the last 18 days since their fellow Christians were forced out of Mosul, listened to the shelling overnight — which started at 1 a.m. and was still pounding at 10 in the morning — and began to think the better of their decision. |
| About 10 men crowded into the office of Father Amar, a Syrian Catholic priest, at St. George’s church on Wednesday morning to discuss what to do as he took phone calls from friends and tried to sort rumor from reality. He confirmed that ISIS shelling in Qara Qosh had killed a woman and her baby and wounded at least three others, and said it was his understanding that Wednesday’s fighting had been started by the pesh merga as they sought to push ISIS back. | About 10 men crowded into the office of Father Amar, a Syrian Catholic priest, at St. George’s church on Wednesday morning to discuss what to do as he took phone calls from friends and tried to sort rumor from reality. He confirmed that ISIS shelling in Qara Qosh had killed a woman and her baby and wounded at least three others, and said it was his understanding that Wednesday’s fighting had been started by the pesh merga as they sought to push ISIS back. |
| “ISIS practices psychological warfare; they spread rumors to frighten people,” said Ibrahim Lalu, 60, a member of the Bartella Town Council. | “ISIS practices psychological warfare; they spread rumors to frighten people,” said Ibrahim Lalu, 60, a member of the Bartella Town Council. |
| But did he feel safe enough to stay in Bartella? As Mr. Lalu hesitated, a man sitting nearby, Roney Sha’ana, 54, answered, “Nobody knows what to do.” | |
| “In Sinjar the civilians were waiting in their homes, and then in one day all of them had to leave,” he said, after the pesh merga forces guarding the city deserted their posts on Sunday, allowing the Sunni militants to enter. The consequences were disastrous for the Yazidis and Shiite Muslims. | “In Sinjar the civilians were waiting in their homes, and then in one day all of them had to leave,” he said, after the pesh merga forces guarding the city deserted their posts on Sunday, allowing the Sunni militants to enter. The consequences were disastrous for the Yazidis and Shiite Muslims. |
| “Our Christian people in Mosul, they came here to this place because it was a safe area, but now also this safe area is not safe,” he said. | “Our Christian people in Mosul, they came here to this place because it was a safe area, but now also this safe area is not safe,” he said. |
| By 4 p.m., he had left Bartella. | |
| The long lines at the first checkpoint, which evacuees reached as they traveled toward the Kurdistan region, suggested that at least 1,000 families had decided to leave. | The long lines at the first checkpoint, which evacuees reached as they traveled toward the Kurdistan region, suggested that at least 1,000 families had decided to leave. |
| Reports reaching Erbil indicated that the situation was much worse in the far northwest of Iraq, where more than 200,000 Yazidis had fled into the mountains near Sinjar with nothing except what they were wearing. | Reports reaching Erbil indicated that the situation was much worse in the far northwest of Iraq, where more than 200,000 Yazidis had fled into the mountains near Sinjar with nothing except what they were wearing. |
| “Our main concern now is the people now in the mountains,” said Narin Shamo, a Yazidi activist in Erbil, adding that she and other Yazidis were asking the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to airdrop supplies to them because they could not leave the mountains without being intercepted by ISIS. | “Our main concern now is the people now in the mountains,” said Narin Shamo, a Yazidi activist in Erbil, adding that she and other Yazidis were asking the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to airdrop supplies to them because they could not leave the mountains without being intercepted by ISIS. |
| The Iraqi government has said it will help, but Ms. Shamo said its aid was not enough. | The Iraqi government has said it will help, but Ms. Shamo said its aid was not enough. |
| “The first day there was nothing, the second day they made four runs and dropped supplies, but there were some mistakes — one time they threw the supplies into an ISIS-held area,” she said. | “The first day there was nothing, the second day they made four runs and dropped supplies, but there were some mistakes — one time they threw the supplies into an ISIS-held area,” she said. |
| “Today they made five runs and succeeded, but they dropped some of it from such a high altitude that it was ruined,” she said, including water containers that burst. | “Today they made five runs and succeeded, but they dropped some of it from such a high altitude that it was ruined,” she said, including water containers that burst. |