Syrian Kurdish fighters rescue stranded Yazidis

Source: AP-Excite

By DIAA HADID and BASSEM MROUE

MALIKIYA, Syria (AP) — In a dusty camp here, Iraqi refugees have new heroes: Syrian Kurdish fighters who battled militants to carve out an escape route for tens of thousands trapped on a mountaintop.

While the U.S. and Iraqi militaries struggle to aid the starving members of Iraq's Yazidi minority with supply drops from the air, the Syrian Kurds took it on themselves to rescue them. The move underlined how they — like Iraqi Kurds — are using the region's conflicts to establish their own rule.

For the past few days, fighters have been rescuing Yazidis from the mountain, transporting them into Syrian territory to give them first aid, food and water, and returning some to Iraq via a pontoon bridge.

The Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking minority who follow an ancient Mesopotamian faith, started to flee to the Sinjar mountain chain on Aug. 2, when militants from the extremist Islamic State group took over their nearby villages. The militants see them as heretics worthy of death.

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FILE - In this Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014 file photo, displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community settle at a camp at Derike, Syria. In a dusty camp here, Iraqi refugees have new heroes: Syrian Kurdish fighters who battled militants to carve an escape route to tens of thousands trapped on a mountaintop. While the U.S. and Iraqi militaries dropped food and water to the starving members of Iraq{2019}s Yazidi minority, the Kurds took it on themselves to rescue them, a sign of how Syria{2019}s Kurds _ like Iraq{2019}s _ are using the region{2019}s conflicts to establish their own rule. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed, File)


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