An Iraqi security expert tells ‘Sky News Arabia’ about the features of the city’s bleak picture, and how it became in the crosshairs of conflicts of interest between some countries in the region, until it was hit by Turkish airstrikes.
ISIS suddenly invaded Sinjar in 2014 and displaced much of its Yazidi people, who constitute the majority, after killing and capturing thousands of people, and despite liberating the city and others from the Islamic State in 2017, the file for the return of the displaced person is still pending.
The government is moving
The Iraqi government is acting these days to resolve the crisis of displaced people who have fled to the Kurdistan region in the east of the country.
Among these, a message of comfort was sent by Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, in previous statements published by the Iraqi news agency “INA” this month, to the displaced people, saying that the current situation in Iraq is “much better, and experiencing positive developments”, which will help to close the file of the displaced Sinjar.
Popular Mobilization’s Ninawa operations commander, Khadir al-Matrouhi, told “Ina” that Prime Minister Muhammad Shi’a al-Sudani, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, “pays great attention to establishment of security in Sinjar district”, and its economic conditions, and focused on “the file of handling grievances of the judiciary and its construction, and the mechanism for the return of displaced persons, and the removal of injustice from citizens, during his recent visit to Nineveh.
crisis card
Iraqi security and strategy expert Dr Alaa Al-Nashua blames successive governments for Sinjar’s crisis, saying it served as a “political map”, without radically solving its problems.
Recounting the main points of the emergence of the Sinjar crisis, he states:
• After the liberation of the city from the Islamic State at the hands of the peshmerga forces, its security problems were complicated until it fell under local and regional influences and interventions.
• Today, forces and factions are in conflict with each other in the Sinjar scene, including the Sinjar Protection Forces, which are under the control of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Regiment Yazidi and other forces that are under the control of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). control of the Popular Mobilization Forces.
• These entities and their conflicts caused neighboring countries to see the city as a threat to their security, due to its border location, until Turkey launched military airstrikes targeting the city; This damaged its service facilities and buildings.
• There are forces and factions that prevent the return of the displaced for security, economic and logistical reasons, in addition to regional interventions.
• Because of its proximity to Syria, religious groups see it as a gateway to carry out military missions in Syria via the “Captives Route”, and they refuse the return of displaced Yazidis to it.
• Al-Sudani’s government emphasizes the return of the displaced, the extension of state authority, the expulsion of armed factions, the fight against plans induced by regional projects and the rehabilitation infrastructure, but this requires international support to the government.
Turkey is pursuing what it sees as factions inside Sinjar loyal to the PKK, which it accuses of rebellion and terrorism. Turkish had bombed the headquarters of the protection of Şengal Units. Which killed 3 of his fighters.
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