"Estimates are that a half million residents fled Mosul in under 24 hours starting June 10, as Iraqi army units refused to protect residents against the advancing ISIS contingents . .
"One family that made it to Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, said it took them 13 hours to complete what’s normally a one-hour drive. They left Mosul with their children after RPG fire hit two adjacent houses, setting them on fire. “We left the food and ran,” the wife and mother told World Watch Monitor. “We didn’t even stop for our shoes, we fled in our sandals! We just made sure to take our IDs and important papers. The children were very scared.”
"Muslims and Christians fled together, but it will be harder for Christians to go back. Upon entering Mosul ISIS fighters declared that all women must be veiled and preferably not leave their homes. Hairdressers and any liquor stores were closed. Christian graves and ancient Assyrian artifacts (many dating from the first century) are to be destroyed, they announced. And as they have imposed in areas captured in Syria, Christians must pay a special tax if they will not convert."
from World Magazine
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