The mountains primarily served as the border frontiers of empires throughout its history ; it served as a battlefield between the Assyrians and the Hittite Empire , and was later occupied by the Parthians in 538 BC . The Roman Empire in turn occupied the mountains from the Parthians in 115 AD . From 363 AD , as a result of the Byzantine – Sasanian wars , the mountains lied on the Persian side of the frontier between the two empires . This Persian influence lasted for at least two hundred years and led to the introduction of Zoroastrianism in the region . In the 4th century AD , Christian influences on the mountains became well established , with Sinjar being part of the Nestorian Christian diocese of Nusaybin . In the 6th century AD , the region was fell under Islamic rule as part of the Muslim conquests , with Christian inhabitants being allowed to practice their faith in exchange for payment of a tax . Since the 12th century , the area around the mountains have been mainly inhabited by Yazidis who venerate them and consider the highest to be the place where Noah 's Ark settled after the biblical flood . The Yazidis have historically used the mountains as a place of refuge and escape during periods of conflict . Gertrude Bell wrote , in the 1920s : " Until a couple of years ago the Yezidis were ceaselessly at war with the Arabs and with everybody else . " In August 2014 , an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 Yazidis fled to the mountains following raids by Islamic State ( IS ) forces on the city of Sinjar , which fell to ISIL on August 3 . The Yazidi refugees on the mountain faced what a relief worker called a " genocide " at the hands of ISIS . Stranded without water , food , shade , or medical supplies , the Yazidis had to rely on scarce supplies of water and food airdropped by American , British , Australian , and Iraqi forces . By August 10 , Kurdistan Workers ' Party ( PKK ) , People 's Protection Units ( YPG ) and Kurdish Peshmerga forces defended some 30,000 of the Yezidis by opening a corridor from the mountains into nearby Rojava , through the Cezaa and Telkocher road , and from there into Iraqi Kurdistan . Haider Sheshu commanded a militia that waged a guerilla war against ISIS . Although thousands more remained stranded on the mountain as of August 12 , 2014 . It has been reported that 7,000 Yazidi women were taken as slaves and over 5,000 men , women , and children were killed , some beheaded or buried alive in the foothills , as part of an effort to instill fear and to supposedly desecrate the mountain the Yazidis consider sacred . Yezidi girls allegedly raped by ISIS fighters committed suicide by jumping to their death from Mount Sinjar , as described in a witness statement
effort
Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL
Sinjar Mountains