Same thing happened to Christians in Mosul.
Faysh Khabur, Iraq (CNN) — In an exodus of almost biblical proportions, thousands trudge across a river to escape killers belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
Entire families carry nothing but the clothes on their backs. Some are barefoot.
Jamal Jamir, a 23-year-old university student from Sinjar, told CNN his family fled to the barren and windswept Mount Sinjar more than a week ago after ISIS captured their town. The group, which calls itself the Islamic State, has been on a rampage, killing members of various minorities, including Yazidis.
Jamir said after ISIS arrived in his town, Arab neighbors of his turned on the minorities and helped ISIS kill. “They join them, and actually they kill us.”
“People you know?” CNN asked.
“Yes,” he responded. “People — our neighbors!”
Jamir’s family was among tens of thousands who flocked to the mountain and desperately waited for airdrops of food and water.
His family escaped to Mount Sinjar on foot and made a marathon 15-hour journey to Syria. After traveling northeast along the border, many families have been crossing a bridge in Faysh Khabur, back into Kurdish-controlled Iraq.
Jamir said two of his young brothers didn’t make it. “What we do?” he said. “Not enough water and dusty. … They died.