Saddam Hussein built the Mosul Dam in 1985. It covered entire villages, including the old Khanki village and its primary school, cemetery and religious shrine, located south-west of the city of Dohuk in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
To make room for the dam, the residents of the Yazidi Khanki village and dozens of other villages were forcibly displaced. Those that were forced out of Khanki built a new village and a copy of the shrine in a new area.
These Yezidi landmarks have re-emerged for the second time in 40 years due to a prolonged drought in the region.
