'Seven days on the mountain': survival on Mount Shingal

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A new Rudaw documentary sheds light on the hardship of two former employees who survived the brutal Yezidi genocide in August 2014.

Former Rudaw reporter Barakat Issa and cameraman Faris Mishko sought refuge on Mount Shingal as the Islamic State (ISIS) tore through the area, killing and enslaving thousands of Iraq’s Yezidis in what many have recognized as a genocide. ‘Seven days on the mountain’ documents their fight for survival for the world to see.

ISIS attacked the Yezidi heartland of Shingal, in Nineveh province, on August 3, 2014, killing and enslaving members of the ethnoreligious group.

Hundreds of thousands of Yezidis sought refuge on nearby Mount Shingal, where they spent over a week without food or water.

“I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday lunchtime, when I had a small amount of rice without bread or water,” Issa told Rudaw from the mountain.

“I thought I would never drink water again,” Mishko told the filmmakers.

In the documentary, both men describe failed attempts to deliver aid to displaced Yezidis on the mountain.

“It was only for about 100 people. A helicopter came and threw four bottles of water and some cans of milk powder,” said Mishko.

“I saw a helicopter come and throw some water from a very high height. The water bottles were damaged and we couldn’t use them...When the helicopter came and threw the bottles of water, they hit an old woman and she died immediately.”

Along with other Yezidis, Issa and Mishko managed to leave the mountain through a safety corridor created by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), entering the Kurdistan Region through northeast Syria, known to Kurds as Rojava.

Both men left the Kurdistan Region four months after the genocide. Issa now lives in Germany and Mishko has returned to the Kurdistan Region.

Directed by Nabaz Ahmed and Zimnako Kareem

Translation and subtitles by Sarkawt Mohammed