According to news reports, there were fresh armed clashes between Iraqi troops and local Yazidi forces in the Yazidi homeland of Sinjar (Shengal) on Sunday.
While there has been a constant buildup of the Iraqi military in the region in past few months, tensions dramatically rose between the sides on April 18 as Iraqi troops tried to forcibly take control of a Yazidi check point.
Troop movements, armoured vehicles and artillery reinforcements by the Iraqi army followed on 25 April.
Several explosions were heard on Sunday, according to a security source who spoke to Shafaq News, yet no further details were disclosed about the incident.
Roj News also reported that there were fresh clashes between Iraqi troops and Yazidi forces on Sunday.
An assault was conducted by Iraqi troops on the Yazidi checkpoint in the town of Sinune, and armed clashes ensued, according to the report.
Roj News released a short video, allegedly recorded at the scene of the clashes.
Daily Yeni Yaşam reported that there were also clashes in the towns of Digure and Xanesore, and that Iraqi units made attempts to encircle several Yazidi posts on Sunday, though without success. It was reported that although Iraqi troops withdrew, clashes restarted on Monday morning.
The administrations of Iraq and Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) had reached an agreement on 9 October 2020 to restore central authority in Sinjar, while Yazidi representatives were themselves excluded from the talks.
The local Yazidi forces in the area were established in the resistance against the Islamic State (ISIS), which committed massacres in 2014, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Yazidis and enslavement of further thousands.
It has been mainly Turkey who claim that the local Yazidi forces are affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated a ‘terrorist group’ in Turkey, but KRI and Iraqi officials also now parrot these accusations by Turkey while targeting Yazidi fighters whom they aim to drive out in accordance with the 9 October agreement.
