page_title: Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL
hierarchical_section_title: Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL
caption_attribution_description: English: Collage involving the Persecution of Yazidis by the Islamic State.
context_page_description: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is recognized by the United Nations as the perpetrator of a genocide of Yazidis in Sinjar, Iraq. The genocide led to the expulsion, flight and effective exile of the Yazidis from their ancestral lands in Iraqi Kurdistan. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were forced into sexual slavery by the Islamic State, and thousands of Yazidi men were killed. Five thousand Yazidi civilians were killed during what has been called a "forced conversion campaign" being carried out by ISIL in Northern Iraq. The genocide began following the withdrawal of the Kurdistan Regional Government's Peshmerga militia, which left the Yazidis defenseless.
  ISIL's persecution of the Yazidis gained international attention and led to the American-led intervention in Iraq, which started with United States airstrikes against ISIL. Additionally, the US, UK, and Australia made emergency airdrops to Yazidis who had fled to a mountain range. YPG and PKK fighters opened a humanitarian corridor to the Sinjar Mountains and helped the Yazidis. ISIL's actions against the Yazidi population have resulted in approximately 500,000 refugees.
context_section_description: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is recognized by the United Nations as the perpetrator of a genocide of Yazidis in Sinjar, Iraq. The genocide led to the expulsion, flight and effective exile of the Yazidis from their ancestral lands in Iraqi Kurdistan. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were forced into sexual slavery by the Islamic State, and thousands of Yazidi men were killed. Five thousand Yazidi civilians were killed during what has been called a "forced conversion campaign" being carried out  by ISIL in Northern Iraq. The genocide began following the withdrawal of the Kurdistan Regional Government's Peshmerga militia, which left the Yazidis defenseless.
  ISIL's persecution of the Yazidis gained international attention and led to the American-led intervention in Iraq, which started with United States airstrikes against ISIL. Additionally, the US, UK, and Australia made emergency airdrops to Yazidis who had fled to a mountain range. YPG and PKK fighters opened a humanitarian corridor to the Sinjar Mountains and helped the Yazidis. ISIL's actions against the Yazidi population have resulted in approximately 500,000 refugees.
caption: Images from top, left and right: Yazidi refugees receiving support from the International Rescue Committee. A member of the U.S. Mt. Sinjar Assessment Team being greeted by locals near Sinjar, Iraq. Bundles of water inside a C-17 Globemaster III before a humanitarian airdrop by the United States Air Force.
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