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“By the U.S. lifting its little finger, two or three drone strikes are going to save 12,000 people, that’s what makes what is happening there so uniquely dreadful,” he said in an interview.

In an article for Foreign Policy magazine, the specialist in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, and the Persian Gulf states added, “This is Iraq’s other humanitarian crisis, the one no one seems to care about.”

The plight of Amerli has been overshadowed by the drama of tens of thousands of Yazidis, a religious minority, fleeing the wrath of ISIS to take refuge on Mount Sinjar, near the border with Syria in northern Iraq.

Kurdish forces and U.S. airstrikes enabled most of the Yazidis to escape the siege of Mount Sinjar. But while U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to help the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, he has ordered only limited airstrikes and is wary of being dragged into a bigger engagement.

Meanwhile, Amerli has been fighting off ISIS attacks since June 20 and is the last bastion out of 31 Shiite villages in the area.

“On a daily basis, the attacks are mainly of the harassment kind, firing rockets in, shooting at helicopters if they arrive and trying to catch anyone who leaves and kill them. Occasionally, [ISIS] will do a big thrust, usually at night, and try to overrun the place,” said Mr. Knights.

The town is made up of Shiite Turkmen, mostly wheat and barley farmers, and has a strong military tradition.

“It is a town of fighters and farmers, there is a big military cemetery in the town going back to the old Ottoman days,” said Mr. Knights. “Almost every official in Amerli is a former Iraqi army officer with significant Iran-Iraq war background.”