There's a sense of dread and deja vu in the Iraqi city of Erbil, says Luke Coleman.
Like many living in the Kurdish city, he lives in fear of the Islamic State militants advance.
Luke, from Stroud, is an English teacher and journalist who has lived in the Kurdistan region of Iraq for three years.
The 41-year-old grew up in Stroud, attending Wycliffe College, and returns regularly to visit family and friends in Chalford.
He moved to the Kurdistan region of Iraq by chance three years ago after qualifying as an English language instructor.
“I received an email asking me to take a position in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan,” said Luke who now lives in a suburb of Erbil, the Christian town of Ankawa.
“We've seen tens of thousands of new residents over the last couple of months, with the people of Qaraqosh, Tal Afar and elsewhere fleeing Islamic State.
“Partially built shopping malls have been repurposed into shelter for hundreds, for how long it's impossible to tell.
“It's going to be cold soon, with temperatures comparable to those in the UK. And yet, these are some of the luckier people; Arab Muslims, distrusted by many Kurds, are taking shelter in incomplete buildings without walls.
“There is no way to exaggerate the help needed. Kurds are exceptionally hospitable people, like people generally in the MIddle East, and accepting a glass of tea will usually be a precursor to a more substantial meal.”
Luke works in the office of a local news agency, copy editing and reporting and in the evenings teaches English. He also volunteers for a local charity The Rise Foundation.
Life, he says, is carrying on with some sense of normality for the time being.
“There was one large bomb a year ago around the time of the Kurdistan regional elections, and a smaller one recently.
“These don't worry me especially, and Ankawa is home to a huge US Government compound; likely the safest place in Iraq right now.
“Taking a taxi is a different matter; the Kurds, in my experience, are second only to the Egyptians in terms of reckless, terrifying driving. I'm just thankful that there is less free-grazing livestock than on Minchinhampton Common!”
But the sense of danger is imminent.
“The past week has filled everyone here with a sense of dread, a sense of deja vu,” he said.
Memories are fresh of the genocide perpetrated against the Yazedi people who fled the city of Sinjar some weeks ago.
“Thousands died on the mountain. Scores of men were executed in the city. Women and girls, as many as 3,000, were kidnapped and sold into slavery,” said Luke.
“We don't call the Islamic State militants IS here. Not ISIS or ISIL. When we sit around discussing the terror they are inflicting with their corrupt and bogus interpretation of Islam, we tend to dip into a bag of swear words.
“And when we talk of air strikes and US-led targeting of positions of these people, we support them. And I'm someone who doesn't support war, but left unchecked, or left to be sorted out regionally, we all fear many more massacres and many more sold in slavery.
“We want peace, but we need the world to face this threat with realism and conviction.”
He plans to stay in Kurdistan for the foreseeable future. Some days I think it is time for me to move to Europe; Rome or Barcelona or Lyon - somewhere I can fly home from easily and cheaply, where I've got a better chance of getting some of the language. But it’s most likely that I'll stay here and do what I can to help those displaced and brutalised by this conflict.”
Luke is appealing for people to donate to The Rise Foundation, rise-foundation.org, which does everything from the basics - water, shelter, winterisation of refugee camps, to helping kids be kids with Disney movie nights, art projects.
Whether Western powers have acted sooner to tackle IS, is a tough question, and Luke says there are no easy answers.
“Anyone who claims to fully understand the situation or claims to have a solution is taking nonsense as well.
“I understand the arguments against the air strikes, and if I was in Gloucestershire, I might well be on that side of the fence. I opposed the use of force against Assad a couple of years ago and was delighted to see UK MPs vote the proposal down.
“But with the benefit of hindsight, if we'd supported the Free Syrian Army then, perhaps there wouldn't have been physical and political room for ISIS to flourish.”
But the long-term strategy of the UKS and other power remains unclear.
“I understand the argument that airstrikes inevitably lead to 'boots on the ground'; but if you think they aren't already, and haven't been for months, you're living in denial.
“Right now, air strikes in Syria, are needed desperately on Islamic State positions around the city of Kobani. We could be about to see some of the most grisly atrocities yet, and somehow we can't get weapons to the men in that city.”
He said serious questions needed to be asked about the Turkish government and its lack of support for neighbouring Kurds.
Kurds welcome the action, and ask for more - you would if these murderous thugs were bearing down on Stroud from Bisley.
He’s aware that there’s a strong antiwar movement in Gloucestershire, and has sympathy with their stance.
“I agree wholeheartedly with the use of diplomacy, that air strikes are too prone to taking out innocent parties and ‘mission creep’
“Far into the future, I see an escalation of the conflict radicalising a new generation, as the 2003 invasion did. People say it’s a conflict that should be addressed by local forces, but at the moment that is not possible. IS would certainly make huge gains, and using not only heavy weapons, but massacre, fear, torture and rape - there is a camp where up to 15 women and girls a day are committing suicide.
“Think about that, and give me a solution for the next eight months, to stop more crucifixions, beheadings, gang rapes and massacres. If you can't then you must understand that something, anything, must be done to check the progress of Al-Baghdadi and his army.”
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