Another Mosul refugee, Faris, fled with his family because they saw ISIS as a threat, although they are Sunni Muslims like the insurgents. Like many others in the city, they watched with dismay as the Iraqi army simply melted away.
“We were surprised by the disappearance of the security forces, and by the insurgents’ entering Mosul and taking control within a few hours,” he told IWPR.
In the chaos, Faris and the brother he shared a house with ended up going in different directions.
“The circumstances forced us to separate. He went to Erbil while I came to the Nineveh Plains,” he said.
Faris can now do little more than watch the news on TV, which only makes him more depressed.
Reporting by an IWPR-trained journalist in Nineveh governorate, whose name is withheld for security reasons. Laith Hammoudi is IWPR’s editor in Iraq.
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