Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

[Anthea]

104 Yazidi ISIS victims buried
in Shingal’s Kocho village

The remains of 104 Yazidis killed during the Islamic State (ISIS) group's genocide against the ethno-religious minority in 2014 were returned to Shingal's Kocho village for burial on Saturday after being identified



The bodies were exhumed from mass graves last year with the coordination of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL (UNITAD). They were subsequently sent to Baghdad for identification.

A commemoration ceremony was held in Baghdad on Thursday, attended by top Iraqi officials.

The remains were moved to Shingal district’s Kocho village on Saturday for burial. The families of the 104 victims, Iraqi and Kurdish officials, international organizations, as well as Nobel Laureate and Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad attended the ceremony.

“Six and half years ago, they were not protected and their dignity harmed by Daesh [ISIS],” Murad said in a speech at the ceremony, blaming Iraqi and Kurdish security forces for failing to protect Yazidis in the face of ISIS attack in summer 2014.

She added that Shingal has been turned into an area rife with “political conflict,” referring to the presence of several armed groups in the district for years. Although Erbil and Baghdad have reached a deal to “normalize” the situation and replace armed militia groups with federal police, some armed groups have not left.

Kocho was the site of one of the worst atrocities committed against the community, with nearly all the village’s boys and men shot dead, and the young women and girls sold into slavery, including Murad.

“The return of the remains of our loved sisters and brother to their hometown means turning another sad page of a bitter history which is full of the suffering of our Yazidi brothers and sisters, who have been subjected to tens of genocides for defending and preserving themselves, their religion, culture and language,” Nawzad Hadi, an advisor to President Nechirvan Barzani, read out on behalf of the president during the ceremony.

“We assure our Yazidi sisters and brothers that we will do our best and continue working with Iraqi and international partners to make sure the Yazidi religion is preserved forever,” he added.

“We will also do our best and work on turning Shingal into a governorate. We will work with Iraq and the international community to coordinate and cooperate so that such a catastrophe does not repeat against Yazidis or other ethic and religious groups.”

Barzani has established an office for finding and liberating the missing Yazidis. He said in his statement that out of 6,417 missing Yazidis, 3,543 have been released from captivity, while the fate of the rest is still unknown, promising to continue searching for the missing one until all are liberated.

He thanked Masoud Barzani, former president of Kurdistan Region and current leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and Peshmerga forces for “liberating Shingal and the surrounding areas.”

Karim Khan, head of UNITAD, told Rudaw’s Nasir Ali that they are working with Iraqi and Kurdish authorities, as well as other parties in order to “make sure that people, survivors, have the right to have this moment to bury their loved ones in accordance with their religious and cultural practices.”

“What has happened to us is unprecedented in history,” said one of the relatives of the victims who attended the ceremony.

“Although we are deeply concerned about what happened, this event is good in that they are being buried as per Yazidi procedures,” said another one who had lost family members, asking for the exhumation of the rest of the victims in Shingal mass graves.

Said Jardo Mato, a prominent figure in the Yazidi community in Duhok, told Rudaw’s Rozhan Abubakir that finding the remains of the victims “badly impacts the psyche of every Yazidi,” adding that Yazidis did not expect such a mass killing to occur, believing they would be protected by security forces.

103 of the victims are from Kocho except for one, Said Jardo Mato, who is from Dahola village in Shingal, said his son, Jasim.

“After the ceremony ends, we will move my father to Sharfadin Temple for burial,” he told Rudaw’s Tahsin Qasim at the ceremony. His father died on August 5, 2014.

Link to Article - Video:

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/060220211

[Anthea]

Hoping to see Yazidis return to Shingal

Nadia Murad calls for action on Erbil-Baghdad agreement

Nobel Laureate and Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad told Rudaw on Saturday that she hopes an administrative and security agreement struck between the governments in Erbil and Baghdad last year is implemented so that Yazidis can return securely to their homeland of Shingal.

Murad told Rudaw’s Nasir Ali that she hopes the agreement reached months ago would see “action taken so that we see our people return,” noting that people have been aspiring to “reach a solution on the security situation”

"There are thousands of mothers and widows of martyrs there that wish to see justice prevail so that they live in Shingal like any other citizen with dignity," she said during the burial of 104 Yazidis on Saturday killed at the hands of Islamic State [ISIS] militants in 2014 and returned to Shingal’s Kocho village after being identified.

Kocho, where Murad is from, is home to the largest number of Yazidi mass graves in the Shingal area. In Kocho alone, hundreds of men, adolescent boys, and older women were killed in August 2014, while more than 700 women and children were seized and taken to other ISIS-held areas.

Nadia met with President Nechirvan in Erbil on February 3 and Iraqi President Barham Salih on February 2 in Baghdad.

Thousands of Yazidis were killed when ISIS, which considers the ethno-religious minority to be heretics, tore through Shingal and other parts of northern and western Iraq in 2014. The bodies of many of those killed still lie in mass graves.

More than 5,000 Yazidis were abducted by ISIS when it overran the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in August 2014.

Thousands are still missing

Nadia also added on Sunday that they hope “our women and girls are rescued from Daesh [ISIS],” noting that many are still in Syria.

Baghdad reached a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the governance and security of Shingal, which is disputed between the two governments, on October 9.

According to the agreement, security in the area is Baghdad's responsibility. The federal government will have to establish a new armed force recruited from the local population and expel fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and their affiliated groups, according to agreement details released in October.

Implementation of the agreement began in November with the deployment of some 6,000 federal police to parts of Shingal that border Syria.

However, a commander of Shingal's Ezidkhan Protection Force, part of the Peshmerga, told Rudaw English last month that several different armed groups remain in the area.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/070220211

[Anthea]

PM Barzani: KRG stands with Yazidis

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani received Nobel Laureate and Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad in Erbil on Sunday, a day after the remains of 104 Yazidi men killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) were buried in the village of Kocho, saying the government stands with the community and displaced Yazidis returning to Shingal

The PM assured Murad that “the KRG stands with the Yazidi people and wants to see a safe and dignified return of all Yazidis to their ancestral home," Barzani tweeted, reaffirming KRG support "for the full implementation of the Sinjar (Shingal) Agreement."

During the meeting, Barzani and Murad reviewed ways to achieve justice through the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh (UNITAD) as soon as possible.

The remains of 104 Yazidis killed during the Islamic State (ISIS) group's genocide against the ethno-religious minority in 2014 were returned to Shingal's Kocho village for burial on Saturday after being identified by forensic teams in Baghdad. It was the first mass burial of Yazidi victims, attended by thousands of people.

“We assure our Yazidi sisters and brothers that we will do our best, and continue working with Iraqi and international partners to make sure the Yazidi religion is preserved forever,” Nawzad Hadi, an advisor to President Barzani, said at the ceremony.

Thousands of Yazidis were killed when ISIS, which considers the ethno-religious minority to be heretics, tore through Shingal and other parts of northern and western Iraq in 2014. The bodies of many of those killed still lie in mass graves.

More than 5,000 Yazidis were also abducted by ISIS. Thousands are still missing.

Baghdad reached a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the governance and security of Shingal, which is disputed between the two governments, on October 9. Yazidis, including Murad, have called for the quick implementation of the agreement to allow displaced Yazidis to return home.

According to the agreement, security in the area is Baghdad's responsibility. The federal government will have to establish a new armed force recruited from the local population and expel fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and their affiliated groups.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/070220211

[Anthea]

The beginning of justice

Yazidis start burying hundreds slaughtered by ISIS

Members of the Yazidi ethnic ethnicity group in Iraq were able to finally bury more than 100 victims of the Islamic State, over a year after their remains were exhumed from mass graves, in a moving ceremony they said was “the beginning of justice”.

It comes amid reports that Syrian authorities may have found the body of top archaeologist Khaled al-Assad, 82, who was also killed by Isis but in Syria in 2015 while he tried to protect the ancient city of Palmyra.

Over the weekend in the Iraqi village of Kocho, south Sinjar, the remains of 104 Yazidis rounded up in 2014, shot and dumped in mass graves were finally laid to rest.

Among the dead was the two brothers of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad, who survived enslavement by the brutal group.

She said on Monday that six years after the Isis genocide of the Yazidis in Sinjar, burying her brothers was the start of seeking justice.

“My community of Kocho was able to lay over 100 of our loved ones to rest,” she wrote on Twitter.

“This is just the beginning of justice for Yazidis. Thousands of families still wait for the identification and burial of their loved ones,” she added.

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In a statement released in the days before she said that there is an “acute need” to identify the rest of the remains that have been exhumed for mass graves including her mother.

“There are dozens of mass graves in Sinjar that still await exhumation. Exhumations and burials for all Yazidi victims of genocide should be expedited out of respect for the deceased and survivors.”

It followed a state funeral for the 104 victims held last week at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Baghdad which was attended by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and President Barham Saleh.

Separately on Monday, Syrian state media reported that the body of Khaled al-Asaad, the former head of Palmyra was thought to be among three bodies discovered in Khaloul, east of the archaeological site.

Mr Asaad, the site’s former director, was beheaded by Isis militants after he chose to stay and protect the 2,000-year-old city which was occupied twice by the militant group between 2015 and 2017.

The authorities still need to confirm the identity of the bodies through DNA tests.

Tens of thousands of people were enslaved and killed during Isis’s brutal reign of terror which started in 2014 when they first swept control of territory in Syria and Iraq.

The UN has since declared that Isis’s actions amounted to the crime of genocide against the Yazidis as they sought to destroy the religious community of 400,000 people through killings, sexual slavery and other crimes.

The Yazidi community is a Kurdish minority whose faith combines elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Islam.

Isis, which considers them devil-worshippers, killed and abducted thousands of Yazidis in its attack on their Mount Sinjar heartland. It held sway over huge areas of Iraq and Syria.

Although Isis was driven from the last part of their land in 2019 by US-led coalition forces, the UN estimates more than 10,000 militants remain active in Syria and Iraq through small cells which continue deadly attacks in both countries.

2,800 women and children remain in ISIS captivity

Mr al-Asaad was also one of their victims. His brutal murder in 2015 shocked the world.

Nicknamed Mr Palmyra, Mr Al-Asaad had dedicated nearly half a century of his life to the Unesco World Heritage Site, being director of Palmyra’s antiquities and museums between 1963 and 2003.

His three sons and his son-in-law who are also archaeologists archaeologist managed to escape to Damascus with valuable artefacts, but Mr Asaad vowed not to leave his home.

Isis later blew up parts of the ancient city.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 99282.html

[Anthea]

Reunited after seven years

After seven years of separation, 19-year-old Asima Jasim was reunited with her family in Duhok on Sunday



The Yazidi woman was abducted by the Islamic State (ISIS) group when she was a child after they attacked her hometown Gir Zerk in southern Shingal during the summer of 2014.

She was held in al-Hol camp in northeastern (Rojava) Syria until December, when she was moved to a Yazidi House, an organization providing safety to the ethno-religious minority.

She has now joined her family members at the Bersiv 2 Camp in Kurdistan Region town of Zakho.

“I am very happy to have arrived here to rejoin my relatives and clan. Thanks be to God, they are here. I am very grateful to those who assisted me,” said Jasim.

Her mother, father, four brothers and two sisters have been missing since they were captured by ISIS.

According to the Office for Abducted Yazidi Affairs, there are 400 to 500 Yazidis at al-Hol – home to thousands of families suspected to have links with ISIS.

“I have been to the al-Hol Camp. There are 400 to 500 Yazidi Kurds in the camp. The camp authorities are not helping at all. Last year, we sent a team to Rojava including religious clerics and the families of four victims. Staying in Rojava for one month, they never helped us," Hussein Qyi, who heads the office, told Rudaw.

They have so far retrieved 3,544 Yazidis held in ISIS captivity, but 2,871 others remain missing, said the official

Link to Article - Video:

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/09022021

[Anthea]

NEVER AGAIN

MUST MEAN NEVER, EVER AGAIN

On 6 February, 104 members of the Yazidi community killed by Daesh were reburied in a ceremony in Kocho in the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar. The Yazidis live in different countries but came together last Friday to show their respect and mourn their loss.

Historically, the Yazidis have suffered from the systematic destruction and deprivation of their religious and socio-economic rights. They are among the most vulnerable displaced people in the Middle East because of their religious identity.

It is estimated that there have been seventy-four genocidal attacks against Yazidis to date. The latest such attack took place in 2014 and appears to have been ignored across the region and by the international community.

The Yazidis are mostly a Kurdish religious minority living primarily in the north of Iraq, western Iran, eastern Turkey, and northern Syria. There is no clear and specific data, but it is estimated that the total population is anywhere between 500,000 and 1 million people.

Often people say the religion of the Yazidis includes elements from Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - WRONG WAY ROUND - as the Yazidi religion predates other religions - so in actual fact, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and possibly even Zoroastrianism (though this is also an extremely ancient religion) have copied elements of the Yazidis religious beliefs

When Daesh declared the Yazidis to be infidels, the extremist group targeted northern Iraq's ethnoreligious minorities in 2014. Its fighters attacked the Yazidis in their ancestral homeland of Sinjar on 3 August. It is assumed that around 500,000 Yazidis were living in that region before the Daesh invasion.

According to the Yazidi Rescue Office data, Daesh kidnapped 6,417 Yazidis in August 2014, of whom 3,451 have been rescued or escaped. This means that just under 3,000 remain in captivity with their whereabouts unknown. More than 2,700 Yazidi children have been orphaned in the process. Ominously, 80 mass graves have been found so far.

The UN estimates that 5,000 Yazidis were killed in the 2014 massacre. Most of those killings took place in the first ten days of the Daesh occupation of the Sinjar area.

Vian Dakhil is a Yazidi MP in Iraq. She broke down in tears in the first week of August 2014 when she told the Iraqi parliament that: "There are Yazidis who now live in the Sinjar Mountains. Mr Speaker, we are being slaughtered under the banner of 'there is no god but Allah'

Mr Speaker, until now 500 Yazidi men have been slaughtered. Mr Speaker, our women, are being taken as slaves and sold in the slave market… Brothers, away from all political disputes, we want humanitarian solidarity. I speak here in the name of humanity. Save us! Save us!"

Unfortunately, most governments and organisations did not listen to her pleas, which was shameful for all of us; shameful for humanity.

The national and international community failed to protect innocent Yazidis

A couple of days after Dakhil's statement, on 11 August, the largest mass killing of Yazidis took place in Kocho, where more than 700 were murdered.

They were killed just because they were Yazidis. Daesh killed, kidnapped and enslaved thousands of children, men and women, displacing whole communities to refugee camps.

UN investigators released a report headed, "They Came to Destroy: [Daesh] Crimes against the Yazidis" and determined that the terrorist group committed genocide against the Yazidis in Iraq.

Then, in February 2016, the European Parliament passed a resolution to declare that Daesh had committed genocide against Yazidis, Christians and other ethnic and religious minority groups in the Middle East. The following month, the US House of Representatives did likewise.

Acknowledging that the Daesh attacks on the Yazidis was genocide is very important, but it is not enough. If the crimes of genocide and sexual violence go unpunished, the precedent of impunity threatens the fundamental human rights of minority groups everywhere.

The Iraqi government and international community have the responsibility to act on the evidence by prosecuting the perpetrators in Daesh for crimes against humanity.

The reburial last week of the 104 Yazidis killed by Daesh was an essential closure ceremony. After six years, at least some of the Yazidis have been able to lay their loved ones to rest. Remember, though, around 3,000 Yazidis are still missing.

We cannot forget that, which is why it is crucial to stand up and support the Yazidis in the effort to make sure that the dead and missing aren't forgotten.

Every time a genocide happens, the world says "never again". Following the genocide of Yazidis in 2014, "never again" must mean never, ever again

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210 ... ver-again/

[Anthea]

On 14 August 2007 horrendous suicide bombing attacks took place on the Yazidi communities

Four coordinated suicide bomb attacks detonated in the Yazidi towns of Til Ezer (al-Qahtaniyah) and Siba Sheikh Khidir (al-Jazirah), near Mosul in Iraq

796 Yazidis were killed and at least 1,500 people wounded, making this the third deadliest act of terrorism in history

One would have thought that after such an horrendous attack having taken place, the international community would have shown greater concern when ISIS started to attack the Yazidis

Especially as the Iragi army had so recently fled Mosul, leaving both the city and vast amounts of weaponry in the hands of ISIS

As with the attack on Kobani, the attack did NOT take place over night

In both instances, ISIS could be seen moving in

THE WORLD DID NOTHING

Over 6 years later - the Yazidis are still suffering and

THE WORLD STILL DOES NOTHING

[Anthea]

Yazidi children join music group

To ease painful memories and quell their boredom, Hanya Hadi and her two brothers joined a music group in Duhok’s Yazidi displacement camp of Sharya



Hanya was six years old when she was captured by the Islamic State (ISIS) group, her brothers Musa and Hani were ten and four. The three were rescued in 2018.

“It’s very nice to come here. When we get bored in the tents, we come here to enjoy some moments,” she told Rudaw on Monday.

The Shingal music group was founded by three Yazidi youths at the camp in November 2020. It aims to rehabilitate survivors and occupy the time of those living in Sharya camp.

The 32-member group is classified into three sub-groups: musicians, singers and dancers.

“My life has changed a lot. Even I have changed since joining the group. I started singing with them and learning many things,” Khada Khero, another member of the group, told Rudaw on Monday.

“We were wasting our time before we joined the group. We were not doing anything and we were bored at home,” said Samir Omar, who sings for the group. “When I joined the team, I learned to sing and became happy. I have improved a lot.”

The group’s instructor Qawal Haji studied fine arts in Duhok. He and two colleagues train the music-lovers three days a week.

“There are many mental illnesses among people [in the camp]. We created this group to achieve two goals: they learn both singing and playing musical instruments, and their mental health gets better,” said Haji.

Link to Article - Video:

https://www.rudaw.net/english/culture/10022021

[Anthea]

Three PMF brigades deploy to Shingal

Three brigades of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) have deployed to the Shingal region after Turkey threatened to launch a military operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the area

“The PMF strikes with an iron hand. Therefore, neither Turkey, nor PKK, nor any other person can threaten anyone. There is no such thing as a threat as long as the PMF is here. We have come to the area. How can Turkey come? Doesn’t our country have its sovereignty?

The PMF is here,” Abbas Ali told Rudaw’s Tahsin Qasim on Friday. He commands the PMF’s Brigade 21, second regiment, which has been deployed to east Shingal. Brigade 33 has been sent to the west and Brigade 14 to Mount Shingal (Sinjar).

Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, visiting Baghdad and Erbil in January, said he discussed the PKK presence in Shingal in his meetings with Iraqi and Kurdish officials. “We told the parties that Turkey is ready to provide support for eliminating terrorists in Iraq’s Sinjar region if they seek any help or support,” he said, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin reiterated this stance in an interview this week.

Last year, Turkish forces conducted several airstrikes on alleged PKK positions in the Yazidi heartland.

After the territorial defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Shingal, multiple armed groups with different allegiances have operated in the northern Iraq region. The unstable security situation coupled with a lack of reconstruction of war-damaged infrastructure has hindered the return of most of the local population who fled ISIS in 2014.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/13022021
Under a landmark 2020 deal between Erbil and Baghdad, security for Shingal is an exclusive federal responsibility and all other armed forces were ordered to leave. But Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said this week that armed groups have not withdrawn and the agreement has not been fully implemented.

Some 200 members of one group, the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS), linked with the PKK, have joined the PMF, according to Khal Ali, commander of the PMF’s Lalish forces.

A local official with links to the YBS, told Rudaw’s Tahsin Qasim that they are ready to defend Shingal. “We, as the forces of YBS and YBJ (Women's Resistance Units), are always ready to resist any attacks by ISIS or any other forces. Our forces are ready to resist not only in Shingal, but all over Iraq,” said Hasso Ibrahim, deputy co-chair of the Shingal self-administration council.

The PKK, an armed group fighting for greater rights for Kurds in Turkey, has its bases in the Kurdistan Region mountains. Turkey frequently carries out cross-border air and ground military offensives against the PKK. This week, Ankara launched its most recent operation in the Mount Gara area of Duhok province.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/13022021

[Anthea]

Father and two children die in blaze

The unnamed man, 31, was killed with his son, 10, and daughter, 11, after a fire broke out at 2:30am on Wednesday morning at the Bersive 2 IDP camp in Zakho

Camp residents have told Rudaw English that the family are from the Yazidi ethnoreligious minority.

Five other people were injured, Ali added, including the man's wife and other son.

The woman, 31, has burns over 35 percent of her body, Dr Falah, who treated the wounded in Duhok, told Rudaw's Naif Ramazan. Two children, aged eight and ten years old, survived with 35 percent and 50 percent burns to their bodies, he added.

"I had a call saying that my daughter’s tent has burned in Bersive.She lived with her husband there and I am in Chamishko camp. Her husband and two of the children burned and died in the fire, and the others are wounded. We took them to Zakho and from there they sent them to Duhok," the woman's father, Khero Khudeida, told Rudaw.

The camp is home to more than 7,000 people, mostly Yazidis, according to January 2021 data published by the Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) .

Approximately 110,000 Yazidis are still displaced in the Kurdistan Region after the Islamic State (ISIS) attack on Shingal in 2014, according to data sent to Rudaw by the Office for Yezidi Abductees' Affairs on Monday

Fires are a regular occurrence at IDP camps across the Kurdistan Region.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/17022021

[Anthea]

Turkish threats of Shingal operation

Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr on Wednesday slammed foreign interference in Iraq, calling on the government to pay close attention to the northern district of Shingal, following threats by Turkish officials to launch a military operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the area

"I will not accept the interference of neighboring states of Iraq in the Iraqi affairs, or an assault on beloved Iraq, just as I don't ever accept Iraq to be a launchpad for attacks against neighboring states," the head of the Sadrist movement tweeted on Wednesday.

Three brigades of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) were deployed to the Shingal region on Friday after the Turkish threats.

Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, visiting Baghdad and Erbil in January, said he discussed the PKK presence in Shingal in his meetings with Iraqi and Kurdish officials. “We told the parties that Turkey is ready to provide support for eliminating terrorists in Iraq’s Sinjar region if they seek any help or support,” he said, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkish presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin reiterated this stance in an interview last week.

Turkey launched a fresh offensive, dubbed Operation Claw Eagle-2, on Mount Gara on February 10 with the purpose of targeting suspected PKK positions there. The operation ended on Sunday. Turkey claims to have killed 51 PKK fighters and arrested two during the offensive, while the armed group claims only 15 of its own died in the operation.

Turkey has previously carried out airstrikes on alleged PKK targets in Shingal.

Sadr also condemned Monday’s missile attacks on Erbil, where 14 rockets have been fired at the Kurdistan Region's capital, killing one and injuring several others.

"Perhaps the escalation in Sinjar, the unjustified attack in Erbil and the siege on some airports in the south [of Iraq] may be a precontext to cancel the papal visit to Iraq, all this is done via internal and external interference," Sadr added.

Pope Francis will visit Iraq in March, according to a statement by the Vatican, marking the first papal visit to the land revered by Christians for its featuring in the Bible.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/170220212

[Anthea]

President Salih discusses Shingal

Iraqi President Barham Salih met with the chief of staff of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al Shaabi) Abd al-Aziz al-Mohammedawi, in Baghdad on Wednesday to discuss the movement of the forces, according to the paramilitary network. The PMF leader, also known as Abu Fadak, was placed on a terrorist list by the United States last month

The leaders discussed the recent movement of PMF units in western Nineveh and Kirkuk, in an effort to “combat terrorism, and the coordination of security efforts.”

Muhammadawi reportedly visited both areas on Friday, according to PMF-affiliated channels on the messenger app Telegram.

“The two sides discussed border points and joint checkpoints between federal forces and the Peshmerga,” tweeted the PMF’s media directorate on Wednesday.

Three brigades of Iraq’s PMF units were deployed to Nineveh province’s region of Shingal (Sinjar) on Friday after Turkey threatened to launch a military operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the area.

The PMF is an umbrella network of mostly-Shiite paramilitary groups, established in 2014 to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) following a fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Some Iran-backed PMF factions have been accused of human rights abuses, and regular attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad.

The US Department of Treasury on January 13th issued a wave of sanctions targeting Iranian and Iran-backed entities – designating Abu Fadak a terrorist.

Mohammedawi was appointed the PMF's chief of staff last year, replacing Abu Mahdi-Muhandis, who was killed in an American drone strike on January 3, 2020.

Salih and Muhammadawi discussed the need to prevent the Islamic State (ISIS) group from infiltrating across the Syrian border, according to the statement.

The meeting comes less than two days after 14 rockets were fired at the Kurdistan Region's capital of Erbil, killing one and injuring several others.

Militias close to Tehran often carry out attacks on US and international sites in Iraq, including the US embassy and Iraqi military bases hosting coalition troops.

A militant group by the name of Saraya Awlia al-Dam (Guardians of Blood Brigades) claimed responsibility for the attacks, but their account of the attack contradicts information provided by official security sources.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/17022021

[Anthea]

Syria lists Yazidis as Muslim

A new Civil Status Law in Syria blocks Yazidis from forming a court to rule on personal status, a right other ethnic minorities in the country enjoy

The Syrian regime’s Justice Ministry on Sunday issued a new Civil Status Law, ruling that the Yazidi minority in the country are not exempt from Islamic status law, sparking outrage in the community, the New Arab reported.

Under the decision, the ethnic minority’s religion, Yazidism, was defined as a sect under Islam as opposed to being a separate religion.

The ministry’s decision came after the Yazidi community in the country applied to form a court specialised in their personal status. That decision means the Yazidi community will have to appeal to an Islamic Sharia court regarding issues of personal status, such as marriage, divorce, or family disputes.

According to Mohamed al Neser, a coordinator at Communities Empowerment against Extremism program, the decision came after the regime administration forgot to include Yazidis in the new Civil Status Law. As a solution, they decided to deal with the group as a “sect,” not a “religion” as they requested, he said in a tweet.

Why is it controversial?

The Yazidi community says the Syrian regime’s decision to not recognise their belief system is a major violation of basic human rights.

The Yazidis, globally thought to number around 700,000 people, are predominantly ethnically Kurdish, and have preserved their ancient syncretic religion.

As the Yazidi beliefs pre date Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam, it is most definitely not an Abrahamic religion, despite often being referred to as a sect, as the Syrian regime has done.

The decision also affects the country’s stateless Yazidis. A controversial census in 1962 stripped citizenship from tens of thousands of Kurds, including hundreds of Yazidi Kurds

According to the Justice Ministry, stateless Yazidis are treated as foreigners and will be referred to civil courts.

Yazidis are a persecuted minority who suffered a massacre at the hands of Daesh in 2014. At the height of its rise, Daesh killed more than 5,000 Yazidis and kidnapped, slaughtered, and raped thousands of women. The level of violence was defined as genocide by the United Nations. Years later, the Yazidis continue to uncover the bodies of their loved ones.

Many Yazidis fled to northern Iraq, but they face the risk of being deprived of basic rights there too. The children who were born to Yazidi women as a result of rape by Daesh are not allowed to join the religious community in northern Iraq according to a decision taken by the faith’s Supreme Spiritual Council in 2019.

A secular legal system?

What Yazidis requested is already a recognised right for Jewish, Christian, and Druze religious minorities in the country. Internationally, the Syrian regime regularly promotes itself as a secular state fighting radicals.

Yet this claim is challenged by the legal system. The country’s Sharia Court has jurisdiction over Sunni and Shia Muslims. However, it's the Mazhabi Court for the Druze, and the Ruhia (Spiritual) Courts for the Christians and the Jews.

In accordance with the system that allows other religious groups to have their own courts, Yazidis have long demanded the recognition of their religious rights in a similar manner through special courts.

https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/syria ... wise-44290

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ISIS militants crossed into Iraq

Nearly 100 ISIS militants entered Iraq’s Nineveh province from Syria last week, according to security sources



“Fear has spread among our people,” Mirza Khalaf, Peshmerga commander of the 2nd regiment in Shingal, told Rudaw on Thursday. “We have received some information that nearly 100 have entered [Iraq] through Rabia and Baaj from Syria.”

Due to the continued threat of the Islamic State (ISIS) group, the nearly 3,000 Peshmerga fighters stationed at the Sheikh Sharafadin shrine are prepared to fight, he assured.

Iraqi forces say they have arrested nearly 10 ISIS militants in Baaj over the last week.

According to the Shingal administration, about 6,000 families have returned to the town in the last eight months.

However, many still fear the reemergence of ISIS, which launched a massacre against Yazidis in the area.

Link to Article - Video:

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/20022021

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How justice can be served

The mass burial earlier this month of 104 Yazidi victims of Daesh massacres in Iraq’s Nineveh province was yet another somber occasion for a religious community scarred forever by its encounter with attempted extermination

As the remains of the men, identified and exhumed from mass graves, were laid to rest on Feb. 9 in the village of Kocho near Mount Sinjar, video footage and photos of the event reminded the world of the horrific crimes the Yazidis of Iraq were subjected to less than seven years ago.

The UN has long determined that Daesh carried out genocide against the small community. The big question is, what are its chances of getting justice, if at all?

Justice and restitution will require more than prosecuting perpetrators of crimes against the Yazidis. (AFP)

At least the 104 murdered Yazidis received some dignity in death. In Baghdad, a ceremony was held for them at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and then their remains were brought to their homeland in northern Iraq.

Tens of thousands of other Yazidis who perished at the hands of the self-declared Islamic State remain unaccounted for. Their bodies most likely lie in various other unmarked mass graves created by the Daesh terrorists who rampaged across the region between 2014 and 2017.

The victims’ families still await word of their loved ones’ fate

According to the BBC, “there were believed to be an estimated 550,000 Yazidis living in Iraq before ISIS invaded on 3 August 2014. Some 360,000 Yazidis escaped and found refuge elsewhere.”

Of the many Yazidis that Daesh turned into slaves during their awful reign in the area, Amnesty International states that some 2,000 rescued children today are still not getting the care and rehabilitation they need. Yazidi villages and towns ravaged by Daesh (and the coalition bombs) still lie in ruins, with their former residents unable to return yet and instead languishing in displaced persons camps across northern Iraq.

Justice and restitution for the Yazidis will require more than just prosecuting Daesh collaborators, rebuilding their communities and compensating the survivors, however. Iraqi and Kurdish society’s treatment of Yazidis was problematic well before Daesh burst on the scene.

Iraqi society historically marginalized and ridiculed Yazidis for their faith, calling them “unbelievers” and “devil worshippers.” In reality, the Yazidi religion combines elements of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Popular misconceptions about and demonization of the Yazidi community created one of the preconditions for Daesh’s genocide attempt.

Genocide scholars such as Helen Fein identify four principal preconditions that generally precede genocidal episodes: The first and perhaps most important of these are that the victims be excluded from the main group. Such exclusion can go beyond the denial of citizenship or group membership.

When members of the group come to be viewed as sub-human (“devil worshippers” or “apostates”), the usual moral injunctions against murder fall away. Iraqi and Kurdistani leaders must therefore work harder to instill popular understanding of the Yazidis and their religion as a legitimate and important component of Iraq’s culture and heritage.

The Yazidis and their place within Iraq need to be celebrated and respected rather than tolerated.

FASTFACTS

Yazidis revere both Bible and Quran, but much of their own tradition is oral.

It is not possible to convert to Yazidism, only to be born into it.

An estimated 550,000 Yazidis lived in Iraq before Daesh’s invasion of Aug. 201.

Crises or opportunities from political vacuums constitute the second precondition for genocides. This happened in Iraq when the federal government and its army failed the Iraqi people. Baghdad’s failures in governance allowed popular discontent to swell, particularly among Iraq’s Sunni Arab population, and paved the way for the emergence of Daesh.

When the Iraqi army, whose leadership was packed with incompetent political appointees of the Nouri al-Maliki regime, fled in the face of inferior Daesh forces, the resulting crisis allowed the radicals to run amok.

Daesh rule over much of central and northern Iraq from 2014 to 2017 in turn fulfilled the third precondition for genocide, which comes in the form of a dictatorial state. Free of the checks and balances of democratic politics, the group’s leadership was accountable to no one and could massacre whomever it wished.

The fourth and final precondition for genocide comes in the form of bystanders — particularly powerful states in the international community — who remain unwilling to intervene. Luckily this turned out to be the missing precondition for Daesh’s genocidal dreams in Iraq and Syria.

The US, Iran, various European countries, the government in Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and others all intervened to stop Daesh.

Rescue efforts in the late summer of 2014 to save fleeing Yazidis on Mount Shingal captured the world’s imagination, and the total elimination of an already small community was thankfully averted.

By 2017 Mosul was liberated from Daesh control, with the last remaining territories held by Daesh in Iraq following suit soon after.

Moving forward and granting Yazidis some measure of justice for what was done to them will require several things. Obviously as many of the perpetrators of the crimes against Yazidis as possible must be brought to justice. This is not impossible, but it does require political will and resources.

Yazidi towns and villages need faster and more sustained reconstruction. Even then, effecting a return of the Yazidi population will remain difficult within an ambiguous political context. The PKK, Shiite militias, Iraqi government forces and KRG forces all linger in Yazidi areas such as Shingal, with frequent Turkish air strikes occurring as well.

Whatever the interests of the local population, all these actors wish to maintain influence and control over the future of the Yazidi region. The quickest way out of such a mess would be to accede to the demands of various Yazidi groups themselves.

They want increased levels of autonomy in their homeland, which would allow them to determine their own fate and provide for their own security in cooperation with both Baghdad and the nearby KRG. The Iraqi Constitution of 2005 allows for, and even envisions, the emergence of multiple regions beyond Iraq’s single region of Kurdistan.

This should seriously be contemplated for both the Yazidis and Christians of Shingal and the Nineveh plains. Sunni Arabs in that area would become a minority of such a region, but could easily enjoy vastly superior guarantees and protections than those that Yazidis and Christians recently had within Iraq.

On a more general level, Iraq must adopt measures to make its constitutional guarantees to the Yazidis and other minorities more than just words on paper.

Article 2 of the Iraqi Constitution states, in Part One, that “Islam is the official religion of the State and is a foundation source of legislation.” But it goes on to say, in Part Two, that “This Constitution guarantees the Islamic identity of the majority of the Iraqi people and guarantees the full religious rights to freedom of religious belief and practice of all individuals such as Christians, Yazidis, and Mandean Sabeans.”

Awareness campaigns and legal initiatives to prevent discrimination against Yazidis and others could make the promises from this section of the constitution more of a reality. Just as Iraq in general has gone a long way towards recognizing Iraqi Kurds as a legitimate and important component of Iraq, so too could Yazidis be recognized.

In this quest for some measure of justice, the international community should also offer whatever assistance it can. As they continue to exhume their dead from various mass graves, the Yazidi community deserves at least this much.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1812856/middle-east