Iraq - The armed conflict between the Islamic State (IS) and the KR-I Peshmerga military has pushed the confirmed number of internally displaced (IDP) Iraqis nationwide to over one million as of August 7th.

The number includes the latest displacements from the Sinjar crisis and existing national IDP numbers compiled by IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). This is highest number of IDPs in Iraq since the IS advance began in January 2014.

In total, IOM Rapid Response and Assessment Teams (RARTs) have identified 176,150 IDP families (an estimated 1,056,900 individuals) in 1,381 locations throughout Iraq since January 2014.  Over 54 per cent or 94,597 families (some 567,582 individuals) of the total became displaced after June 2014.

The wave of Yezidi ethnic and religious minorities who fled to the Sinjar Mountains on the border with Syria in Iraq's Ninewa Governorate remain trapped in the mountains, unable to reach safe areas.

According to IOM sources, some families fled to Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria and have taken up temporary residence in villages along the Syria-Iraq border.

The humanitarian situation remains dire and the situation highly fluid. Many families trapped in the mountains are without food, water or any way of contacting the outside world. Humanitarian airdrops have been announced by the United States.

IOM is responding to life-threatening needs in a rapidly changing environment, in addition to monitoring movements on the ground. Over the last several days, IOM RARTs have delivered over 720 non-food relief item kits and 140 women’s dignity kits donated by UNFPA to IDPs in Dohuk Governorate alone.

For more information please contact

Susan Megy
IOM Erbil
Tel. +964 750 0166 072
Email: smegy@iom.int