Threats of mass violence against one of the world’s most persecuted minorities are growing

In interviews, Yazidi civilians and activists said hardline clerics have stirred up hatred and targeted their community, reawakening memories of ISIS’s 2014 onslaught.

BAGHDAD — Khairi Ali Ibrahim can feel the danger rising.

Ibrahim is a member of Iraq’s Yazidi religious community, one of the most persecuted and vulnerable minorities in the world. At the height of that persecution, 10 years ago, Islamic State group militants ravaged the Yazidi population in the Sinjar district, slaughtering hundreds of men, forcing thousands of women and children into sexual slavery, and driving tens of thousands from their homes. 

The terror and trauma of that brutal campaign has been reawakened in recent weeks in parts of Iraq. In interviews with NBC News, Yazidi civilians and activists said hard-line mullahs in Iraqi Kurdistan have increasingly targeted the small and insular community, inciting violence in public speeches and social media.

“We live in great tension since 2014, but now it is at its peak,” said Ibrahim, a 32-year-old former shop owner. “We have lived through difficult times since then, but this new wave of threats has brought back the nightmare of those days.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/isis-massacres-2014-yazidi-iraq-rcna168783

---