After running into stiff resistance on the drive towards Baghdad from the Iraqi army and Shiite militias organized by Iran, Sunni fighters with the group Islamic State have turned north to take on an easier target.  They’ve captured three more towns from Kurdish fighters and sent civilians fleeing.

In Sinjar, the group also known as “ISIS” in various media reports fulfilled what has become its modus operandi: Fighters destroyed a Shiite shrine, executed resisters, and hoisted their black flag over government buildings.  They’re also demanding civilians swear their allegiance to Islamic State.

“A humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar,” said Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations representative in Baghdad, who adds that as many as 200,000 civilians had fled the new fighting. 

But the Sunni extremists’ hold on captured territory isn’t as strong as it would like the world to believe.  Sunni villagers in Syria last week drove off the fundamentalists from four towns in oil-rich Deir Ezzor, burning the local ISIS headquarters in one.