Amid Violence, Iraq Fractures Again Along Religious Lines
An Iraqi child, whose family fled from Islamic State violence in the northern city of Mosul, stands outside a tent that serves as a school in the southern city of Najaf on Sunday. Some 2 million Iraqis have been driven from their homes by fighting this year. Alaa Al-Marjani /Reuters/Landov hide caption
An Iraqi child, whose family fled from Islamic State violence in the northern city of Mosul, stands outside a tent that serves as a school in the southern city of Najaf on Sunday. Some 2 million Iraqis have been driven from their homes by fighting this year.
The shrine of Imam Ali in the Iraqi city of Najaf is a vast gold-domed edifice, where Shiite Muslims from all over the world gather to pray.
But just a few minutes drive away, are travelers of a different, shabbier kind. A long row of cinder block and sheet metal buildings is draped in bright flags with religious slogans. Usually, these are for pilgrims to sleep in. But right now, they're spilling over with displaced Iraqi families.
"It's tough for the children," says Zaira Raqib, a mother of four of them. "We know we're displaced, but they don't understand."
The children are excited to have a visitor, keen to show off and singing snatches of the English alphabet. They skitter around underfoot while their moms try to keep the floor clean.
Nearly 2 million Iraqis have had to flee their homes because of violence this year. Many are Shiite Muslims escaping the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS, which has brutally murdered Shiites and other non-Sunnis.
Iraqi families displaced from the north of the country by the advance of ISIS now shelter in buildings traditionally used by Shiite pilgrims in the southern city of Najaf. Alison Meuse for NPR hide caption
Iraqi families displaced from the north of the country by the advance of ISIS now shelter in buildings traditionally used by Shiite pilgrims in the southern city of Najaf.
Iraq's Shiites drove many Sunni Muslims from their homes in 2006-2007, leading to the segregation of many neighborhoods in Baghdad and elsewhere based on religion. Now the Sunnis of the Islamic State are forcing many Shiites to flee.
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Amid Violence, Iraq Fractures Again Along Religious Lines