In Pictures

Gallery|Humanitarian Crises

In Pictures: Iraqis flee to Kurdistan Region

Thirty thousand have fled Mosul after its seizure by rebels – many heading to the Kurdistan Region and refugee camps.

An elderly Iraqi woman is carried to the registration point of Khazer camp.

By Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin

Published On 3 Jul 2014

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Since the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIL, seized Mosul earlier this month, long-standing sectarian and regional rifts permeating Iraq have galvanised and created a landscape that many now worry is irrevocably fragmented. Iraqis on all sides – Shia, Sunni, Baathist, Kurdish, and Turkmen – have taken up arms and mobilised armed groups in order to defend what they see as theirs and take what they have long wanted.

While the rapid advance of the Islamic State fighters has been successful – besieging Mosul, storming Tikrit, and consolidating border crossings – the drive has been largely directed southward, towards Baghdad. Both because of this focus, and because of the presence of a well-trained Kurdish armed force, the semi-autonomous Kurdish region has remained largely stable, and even bolstered, after the capture of the long-contested, oil-rich city of Kirkuk. 

This stability has drawn an estimated 300,000 of the 500,000 people the UN estimates fled Mosul when the rebel fighters surged into the city. Many have taken up residence in the homes of family, hotels, or even schools. Thousands, however, have been kept from entering the Kurdistan Region, unable to show proof of either a sponsor or family in Iraqi Kurdistan – stipulations required by the Kurdish government to enter. 

Hundreds of families have amassed along the Kurdistan Region’s periphery and camped out in temporary tent settlements the Kurdish Regional Government has erected. Khazer camp, situated halfway along the road between Erbil and Mosul, currently holds roughly 1,300 people.

Fleeing ongoing reciprocal skirmishes between the Islamic State and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and growing fears of sectarian violence at the hands of the Islamic State, many civilians continue to arrive daily. With no sign these dynamics will change anytime soon, thousands more Iraqis may soon find themselves on the run.

A young Iraqi boy rides a bike through Khazer. Over 1,500 people have temporarily settled in the camp since the fighters from the Islamic State seized Mosul, with more arriving daily.
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Civilians who have fled their homes in Mosul wait to register at Khazer camp, situated along the road between Erbil and Mosul.
A young displaced boy carries water across the dusty grounds of Khazer camp.
A father cradles his child as he waits to register for entrance into Khazer camp.
Displaced Iraqis fill water jugs at a water distribution point in Khazer camp.
An Iraqi girl who, along with her family, is staying at Khazer after fleeing the armed group in Mosul.
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Peshmerga forces stand watch over Khazer camp. "When Peshmerga are not close, [the Islamic State] will be there," says one displaced civilian staying at the camp with his family.
A guard at Khazer camp directs anxious civilians back to their tents after shots were fired at a nearby checkpoint run by Peshmerga forces.
A young Iraqi boy looks at a Kurdish Peshmerga fighter as his vehicle is stopped at a checkpoint on the road leading to Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces stand alert along the perimeter to Khazer camp after shots were fired at a nearby checkpoint.
Civilians wait in the back of a truck after traffic has come to a standstill at a checkpoint in Erbil. Fleeing the approach of armed rebels, hundreds of families waited at the checkpoint leading into Erbil to enter the relative safety of the Kurdish region.
A young Iraqi boy waits in the back of a pickup as he and his family head to Erbil. Over 300,000 have fled Mosul, Iraq(***)s second largest city, with most heading towards the relative safety of Kurdistan.
Men wait with their cars near the front of a line at a petrol station on the outskirts of Erbil. A massive fuel shortage has led to queues lasting eight to ten hours in order to buy fuel.
Young girls sleep in the back of the truck as they wait to pass through the checkpoint to enter Erbil.