Now that Baghdad’s control of northern Iraq has collapsed in the face of an onslaught by Sunni insurgents, Kurdish forces have been battling the al Qaeda-influenced militants pushing towards the capital.<br /><br />But the Kurdish fighters, known as peshmerga, have already won a major prize, seizing their historic capital Kirkuk and the oil-rich region bordering their self-governing territory.<br /><br />The capture of key cities like Mosul and Tikrit by the well-armed forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has redrawn the map of a country consumed by sectarian hatred. <br /><br />As the conflict escalates, Iraq’s most senior Shi’ite cleric urged his followers to take up arms to defend themselves against the Sunni revolt. A rare message from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest religious authority for Shi’ites in Iraq, said people should unite to fight back against the insurgency by ISIL fighters and former Saddam loyalists.<br /><br />The UN says hundreds of people were killed, many summarily executed, after Sunni Islamist militants overran Mosul.<br /><br />Civilians have been seeking refuge in the Kurdish autonomous region of Erbil.<br /><br />“We are afraid,” said one displaced man, insisting that the insurgents are not forming any sort of normal government.<br /><br />“You know there are foreigners among them, there are Iraqis, and Saudis, it is a real mix,” he said. <br /><br />As the Middle East is confronted with yet another crisis, the future of Iraq’s people and national boundaries in the whole region is at stake.
