A field worker with persecution watchdog group Open Doors helping refugees in Iraq has spoken out about the "unbelievable" suffering going on in the country, which is under attack by the Islamic State terrorist group, which is better known as ISIS.
"The suffering we see is unbelievable and it makes me cry every time I see something, either by visiting families or by the horrible pictures we see," the field worker, who wasn't named, said in a news release Open Doors sent Tuesday.
The watchdog group reported that most of the displaced people who have found their way to Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, have fled from Mosul, Qaraqosh and other towns and villages on the Nineveh plain.
Islamic State terrorists have forced thousands of Christians, Yezidis and other minority groups to flee their homes or face death.
Last week, the U.N. declared the highest level of humanitarian emergency in Iraq, and accused ISIS of carrying out "barbaric" acts of sexual violence against women and teenage boys and girls belonging to Iraqi minorities.
U.N. special representative Nickolay Mladenov said that the declaration by the UN of a "Level 3 Emergency" in Iraq would "facilitate mobilization of additional resources in goods, funds and assets to ensure a more effective response to the humanitarian needs of populations affected by forced displacements."
ISIS has captured significant territory in Iraq and Syria and declared the creation of an "Islamic State."