Photo Gallery An Iraqi City Under Siege

The city of Amirli in northern Iraq has been under siege by the Islamic State for weeks, but residents have received little outside assistance in their battle for survival. Starvation is looming but the Turkmen who populate the town have no allies in Iraq.
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The Turkmen of Amirli are seen by the extremist IS as apostates. Should the jihadists gain the upper hand, the situation could rapidly deteriorate for the 13,000 people still in Amirli.

Foto: AFP/ Isil
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Kurdish fighters at the Tuz Khormato checkpoint in northern Iraq. Only one helicopter from the Iraqi army flies to Amirli twice a week to deliver a minimum of supplies and to fly out the wounded and sick.

Foto: AHMED JADALLAH/ Reuters
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An IS fighter in Iraq. The Islamists are well equipped with tanks, machine guns, rocket launchers and rocket-propelled grenades. In addition to taking large swaths of Iraqi territory, they have also conquered several Iraqi army weapons depots.

Foto: DPA/ Albaraka News
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Islamic State fighters in Mosul. "It's like genocide," says Dr. Khaldoun Mahmoud, a doctor in Amirli. The IS "attacks women, children soldiers, they don't differentiate between them."

Foto: STRINGER/IRAQ/ REUTERS
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A cargo plane bound for Iraq is loaded with aid goods in Germany. The German government has agreed to deliver arms to the Kurds in Iraq, but it has yet to say exactly what it plans to send. A decision is expected this week.

Foto: Hendrik Schmidt/ dpa
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Recently, the world turned its attention to the brutality of the IS after the Yazidis were forced to flee their homes and became trapped in the Sinjar mountains. Thus far, the Turkmen of Amirli have not received as much attention.

Foto: © STRINGER Iraq / Reuters/ REUTERS