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northern Iraq

Iraqi army helicopter takes off at a base in Sinjar, Iraq, Tuesday, May 3, 2022. 

Iraq’s Yazidis stuck in ‘tug-of-war’ between regional armed groups

Violence

Recent fighting between the Iraqi army and a local militia in heavily populated civilian areas has led to the displacement of an estimated 10,000 people. 

American Village entrance gates on the outskirts of Erbil, Iraq, the Kurdish defacto capital.

Kurds grapple with US troop drawdown in Iraq

Military
Children play with a kite at a shelter for displaced Yazidis on Mount Sinjar, northern Iraq.

Years after US Iraq intervention, Yazidis are still seeking safety on a mountain

Conflict
Ibrahim Noel reopened his liquor store in Qaraqosh, northern Iraq, after he said ISIS demolished it.

An Iraqi liquor store has quietly reopened after ISIS

Economics
Policemen who fled Mosul train in a camp near Erbil to try to take their city back from ISIS.

The men who ran from ISIS in Mosul say they’re ready to take the city back

Conflict
Displaced women from the minority Yezidi sect. ISIS is increasingly subjecting women to rape, as well as forced conversions and marriage.

Some Yazidi women who have escaped ISIS barbarism aren’t hopeful for their futures

Belief

Figures suggest that thousands of Iraqi women from the minority Yazidi sect are being subjected to rape, forced conversions and forced marriages by the militant group ISIS. But even those who have escaped the violence have uncertain futures.

“Long live the Iraqi army,” tattooed on Sirgon Horomes’ arm. He says now he’s disappointed the army did not protect him and other Christians.

Thousands of young Christian Iraqis have joined the fight against ISIS — but few have faith it will help

Conflict

In recent months, Iraqi Christians have been displaced by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Christian leaders in northern Iraq are calling upon young Christian men fight alongside the Peshmerga and Iraqi army against ISIS. While thousands are heeding the call, most remain skeptical.

oil tanker United Kalavyrta

A ship full of Kurdish oil remains trapped at sea off the coast of Texas

Business

An oil tanker is sitting 60 miles off the Texas coast, trapped at sea with one million barrels of crude oil from Kurdish Iraq. It’s worth $100 million, but Baghdad and the government of the country’s autonomous Kurdish region can’t agree on who’s allowed to sell it.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces, Makhmur.

Kurds in northern Iraq now suspect their Arab neighbors of siding with ISIS

Conflict

As Kurdish forces repel the militant group ISIS from areas in the north of Iraq, some believe they’re also using the moment to push Arabs out of the villages where the groups have lived together for decades.

A girl from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, rests at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing in Fishkhabour, Dohuk province August 13, 2014.

The US says the crisis for Yazidis in Iraq is over — but the UN disagrees

Global Scan

Earlier this week, the US considered the possibility of sending American troops to rescue members of the Yazidi minority trapped by ISIS militants on Mount Sinjar in Iraq. Now, President Obama says the crisis has passed … but others aren’t so sure. And if you think women’s rights are relatively new, guess again. And we explain why Ferguson, Missouri seems like a war zone, in today’s Global Scan.Earlier this week, the US considered the possibility of sending American troops to rescue members of the Yazidi minority trapped by ISIS militants on Mount Sinjar in Iraq. Now, President Obama says the crisis has passed … but others aren’t so sure. And if you think women’s rights are relatively new, guess again. And we explain why Ferguson, Missouri seems like a war zone, in today’s Global Scan.