Feature: Battles with IS in Iraq's Anbar take toll on Sunni families

Thousands of families resorted to Baghdad after they left their houses and properties in the battleground province of Anbar, trekking through desert roads and crossed hurdles on their way to the Iraqi capital city.

Some families found shelter in houses of their relatives in Baghdad, while hundreds resorted to the capital mosques, many of which opened their doors for families of the Sunni heartland of Anbar.

Mohammed al-Jumaily, who has arrived three days ago and find shelter at a-Jabbar mosque in the Sunni district of Khadraa in western Baghdad, told Xinhua that he and his family made a long trip from Anbar's provincial capital city of Ramadi, which has been partially seized by the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

"We have left our home in Soufiyah district in eastern Ramadi several days ago, because there was no food, no water and no power, after the IS militants seized my neighborhood there," Jumaily said.

Jumaily said the militants allowed the families to leave and he thought it was an opportunity to save the family before the security forces started their heavy bombardment on the district.

But leaving the city was not the end of the tragedy, in fact it was the start of long suffering, as the fleeing families must avoid the battleground areas in east of Ramadi and nearby city of Fallujah, and head to the desert road to the town of Ameriyat al-Fallujah.

Then, another tragedy is waiting for them at a small and old floating bridge named Bzaibiz, where dozens of thousands of people were looking forward to crossing the Euphrates River from the battleground to the road leading to the southern entrance of Baghdad.

The homeless people must pass the harder part of their trip on Bzaibiz Bridge, because authorities require many migrants to provide a guarantor inside the capital as part of security measures to prevent infiltration by militants to Baghdad.

"Crossing the bridge is a dream for each one of us on the western side of the river. It is like a new life and a new hope for our desperate people," Jumaily said.

"I can't describe the sufferings that we have seen whether during the trip or during the crossing of the bridge which took long hours for my family, and days for many others," he said.

"Many crossed but many others remained for days because either they didn't carry their identities or their papers were not convincing to the security men on the bridge," he added.

However, Jumaily showed his relief that after long and painful trip he found the shelter in a mosque.

"I feel safe now despite the miserable situation compared to my house there in Ramadi. We find shelter, food and medicine and everything we need, thanks for all the volunteers and the residents of the district," Jumaily said as he describing his partition in the mosque which he shared with dozens of other families.

Tha'ir Sigar, 31, another refugee from Ramadi, who found shelter in a mosque at the Sunni district of Ghazaliyah, was upset for leaving his home and afraid that some family members back in Ramdi could be killed by the IS extremist militants.

"Our lives have turned into hell. We are humiliated, at least we usually have dignity in our homes, but now we are asking for food and shelter," Sigar, who used to be a member of a government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group, told Xinhua.

A few days ago, Sigar, his wife and four children, were forced to leave their home for fear of retaliation by the IS militants against the Sahwa member, who was known as Sahwa fighter for years.

Sigar said that four of his cousins and his uncle were killed by the extremist al-Qaida militant group and its breakaway IS group, which considers whoever cooperated with the Shiite-led government as traitor that must be slaughtered.

Sigar said he is worried about his old parents who stayed back in the house in Ramadi as well as his brother who also remained at house to help and protect the old parents.

"We are wanted by Daash (IS militant group), if they know that they are my family members, they will slaughter them, and would blow up the house too," Sigar said.

The extremist militants blew up Sigar's house in 2007 after they forced women and children to leave, while he and his cousins were fighting the extremist group elsewhere in the city.

In 2012, the militants again bombed his house after his family rebuilt it in 2008, and now his parents desperately refused to leave because they are old and they don't want to lose their house again.

Hameed al-Esawi, 27, blamed the government for not arming the Sunni tribes who did defeat al-Qaida in Anbar and are capable now to do it again.

"By God, they (IS militants) are not many, we have a lot of men. We are powerful tribes, but the government does not give enough arms to us," Esawi said.

"Believe me, the army could not win in the recent battles in Soufiyah district. The soldiers left their hammers and ran away, and if they withstand you won't see all these people leaving their homes," Esawi added.

The IS gained ground more than two weeks ago in several districts in Ramadi, including Soufiyah in eastern the city after the security forces withdrew from the scene.

The government sent reinforcement troops to the city, giving the troops a push to regain ground in several districts in the city, including parts of Soufiyah, during the past few days.

More than 90,000 people have fled their homes in Anbar province when IS militants captured several districts in Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq said in a statement on Sunday.

According to UN figures, at least 2.7 million Iraqis have been displaced since January 2014, including 400,000 from Anbar province, making the Iraq crisis "one of the most complex humanitarian emergencies in the world today," the statement said.

Since December 2013, insurgent attacks continue in the Sunni Arab heartland of Anbar province, which has been the scene of fierce clashes that flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside Ramadi.

The security situation in Iraq began to drastically deteriorate on June 10 last year, when bloody clashes broke out between the Iraqi security forces and the IS group who took control of the country's northern province of Nineveh and later seized swathes of territories in other predominantly Sunni provinces. Endit