Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi appointed Ninova Governor Necim Ciburi as governor for the Sinjar District Administration, Hawar News reported, citing Ninova Province Speaker Reid Ebbas.
Ciburi’s appointment follows Iraq sending reinforcements on Monday to the Sinjar region, home of the Yazidi minority. The reinforcements include artillery, tanks, armoured vehicles and additional troops.
Ciburi will be taking over as governor of Sinjar on Thursday, and will be visiting the district at least once a week as he continues his duties as the governor of Ninova.
The Iraqi army, Turkey and the Kurdistan region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) may have formed an alliance, Democratic Union Party (PYD) co-presidential board member Aldar Xelîl told ANHA in an interview as he commented on the situation in Sinjar and Rojava.
Prime Minister Al-Kadhimi’s move was “interesting”, Xelîl said, at a time when Iraq’s president and government are yet to be determined and Turkey’s occupation in Başûr (Iraqi Kurdistan) and Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) continue. “We are following closely,” Xelîl said.
The PYD official said that an attack was planned on Sinjar instead of reacting to the Turkish occupation or the betrayal of the KDP and asked “Is this their response to the Turkish state that occupies their home?”
“We believe these attacks by the Iraqi army pose a threat to both Sinjar and the people of Rojava,” Xelîl said. “The KDP is attacking and laying siege (in northern Syria) in tandem with the Turkish occupation.”
“They have already built a wall between Sinjar and Rojava. They are still in the process of concentrating their forces in Sinjar, and they have somebody close to the KDP in charge of the plan to capture Sinjar,” he said.
Xelîl asked if the Iraqi central government wanted to “play a wider role” in Turkey’s occupation of Rojava.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Feleknas Uca, a Yezidi woman herself, referenced the Islamic State’s (ISIS) 2014 takeover of Mosul, and said the city had been “abandoned to ISIS within 24 hours”.
“Those who surrendered Mosul and Sinjar to ISIS within 24 hours today wish to bring a new order on the Yazidis,” Uca said in a tweet.
