The rapid sweep of Islamic militants from Syria into northern Iraq has sent the Middle East into crisis , caused alarm in capitals from Tehran to Washington and forced about half a million people to flee their homes . The flood of Iraqis trying to escape ISIS fighters doubled the country 's displaced population almost overnight . More than 1.1 million people -- nearly one out of 30 -- in Iraq are now displaced . Ahead of World Refugee Day on Friday , CNN looks at where they came from and where they 've gone . From : . Mosul , Iraq 's second-largest city , in the past few weeks : 500,000 . Tal Afar , a smaller city north of Mosul : 84,000 . Tikrit and Samarra , cities on the road from Mosul to Baghdad : about 40,000 . Diyala province , between Baghdad and the Iranian border : 6,000 . Anbar province , west of Baghdad : 480,000 . To : . Duhuk , a city in the north : 230,000 from Mosul and Tal Afar . Irbil , a city southeast of Mosul : 100,000 from Mosul . Displaced within the city of Mosul itself : 25,000 . Sinjar and surroundings in the north : 54,000 from Tall Afar . Kirkuk : about 23,000 from Mosul and Anbar province . Sulaimaniya : More than 26,000 from Anbar and Diyala provinces . Tikrit : 83,500 from Anbar province . Displaced within Anbar province : 286,000 . Baghdad : 46,800 from Anbar province . The cities of Najaf , Karbala , Al-Hillah , Mandali , Al Kut and Ad Diwaniya combined : Nearly 10,000 . Source : United Nations , as of June 18 , 2014 .
The number of people fleeing their homes in Iraq nearly doubled overnight , U.N. says . 500,000 people have been displaced from the northern city of Mosul . 480,000 have left their homes in Anbar province . The cities of Irbil and Duhuk are hosting more than 300,000 internally displaced people .