Just a day after The Inquisitr reported about the 40,000 trapped Yazidi people atop the Sinjar Mountains of northern Iraq, we have yet another humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country. Islamic State (ISIS) militants have continued their push towards northern Iraq and have now reportedly overrun the city of Qaraqosh – known to be Iraq’s largest Christian city located between Mosul, which has been under the control of the ISIS for the past few months – and Arbil which is the capital of the Kurdish region of Iraq.
Qaraqosh had a population of around 50,000 almost entirely composed of Christians. According to fleeing residents and Christian priests, several towns including Qaraqosh, Tal Kayf, Bartella and Karamlesh have been “cleansed” of their original Christian population. These towns are now under the total control of ISIS fighters. Invading ISIS fighters have managed to push back Kurdish troops from the city and have in an overnight raid captured several Christian towns in the region, reports The Guardian. According to Joseph Thomas, the Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, the situation in these towns are “catastrophic and tragic” as told to the AFP.
ISIS Fighters Overrun Iraq’s Largest Christian Town Qaraqosh, Residents Flee
Isis seizes Iraq’s largest Christian town
Islamic State’s offensive sends Iraqis running
Iraq jihadist offensive sparks mass Christian exodus
Iraq Christians flee as Islamic State takes Qaraqosh
BBC reporter: Hundreds of ISIS terrorists receive war training in Turkey
Jiyar Gol, BBC’s Kurdish correspondent in a live broadcast from Kurdish northern city of Erbil claimed that Turkey’s intelligence established new camps to instruct African and Caucasian terrorist with military training and then dispatch these terrorist elements inside irq to join ISIS ranks.
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Kurdish security chief: Turkey must end support for jihadists
The head of the Kurdish security police in northeast Syria, Ciwan Ibrahim, said that his security forces are willing to cooperate with Turkey if it ends its support for radical jihadist groups.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Ibrahim accused Turkey of continuing to support jihadist groups such as the Islamic State (IS), which is in the throes of a major and vicious assault against Kurdish populations in Syria and Iraq.
The Kurdish security police, known as Asayish in Kurdish, operates in Syrian Kurdish cities to combat crime and terrorism. Amid the turmoil of Syria’s civil war, the Kurds established their own autonomous system and security apparatus in northeastern Syria in January.
The Asayish is seen as being affiliated with the Democratic Union Party (PYD), although Ibrahim denied any link to any political party.
Relations between the Syrian Kurds, steered by the PYD, and Turkey have been hostile, fueling repeated accusations from the PYD and the Asayish that the Erdogan government is supporting the radical IS, which is currently besieging the Kurdish enclave of Kobani and massacring Kurdish Yazidis in Iraq.
Kurdish security chief: Turkey must end support for jihadists
ISIS Fighter Claims Turkey Funds the Jihadist Group
Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party have a well developed reputation for anti-Semitism and anti-Israel policies generally. But now ties to the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS, are emerging. The Jerusalem Post reported one Islamic State member said Turkey, a member of NATO, provided funds for the terrorist group.
“Turkey paved the way for us. Had Turkey not shown such understanding for us, the Islamic State would not be in its current place. It [Turkey] showed us affection. Large [numbers] of our mujahedeen received medical treatment in Turkey,” said the man, who was not identified. “We do not have the support of Saudi Arabia, but many Saudi families who believe in jihad do assist us. But anyhow, we will no longer need it, soon,” he said.
ISIS Fighter Claims Turkey Funds the Jihadist Group
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