Sinjar Alliance
The Ezidkhan Command for Liberating Sinjar (Kurdish: Fermandariya Êzîdxana Ji Bo Rizgariya Şengalê), known as the Sinjar Alliance (Kurdish: Fermandariya Hevbeş a Şengalê, i.e. Sinjar Joint Command), is a joint command of two - initially three - Yazidi militias, the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ), and the Êzîdxan Women's Units (YJÊ). Both of the remaining two militias are supported by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).[2]
Sinjar Alliance
October 2015–present
Êzîdxan Women's Units
Sinjar Resistance Units
Êzîdxan Protection Force (Until March 2017)
Sinjar, Iraq
The alliance was originally created in October 2015,[3] after the August 2014 Sinjar massacre,[4] and included the Êzîdxan Protection Force (HPŞ), which in fact provided the largest contingent of fighters (claiming at the time of the operation 5,000 fighters, including about 400 women).[5] However, the HPŞ left the alliance in early 2017 due to ideological differences with the PKK-backed YBŞ and YJÊ.[6] The Alliance aims to establish democratic confederalism in a Yazidi autonomous region in Sinjar.
Sinjar Defense Units (HPS)[edit]
The HPS is one of the original three Yazidian resistance groups. It consisted of over 5,000 fighters, of which approximately 400 are women.[5] HPS is led by Yazidian military commander, Haydar Shesho. In the initial attacks on Mount Sinjar, the HPS can be credited with protecting the Yazidis on Mount Sinjar as well as providing them with supplies to the best of their ability.[8] The HPS did not share the same PKK ideology as the YBŞ and the YJÊ and have since left the Sinjar Alliance.[6]
2017[edit]
After over two years of fighting, the Sinjar Defense Units (HPS) left the Sinjar Alliance in 2017 to join the Peshmerga and serve under the Kurdish Government (KRG), who publicly denounced them just months before.[6]
Turkish Offensive[edit]
Since the United States removed troops from the Turkish and Syrian border on October 7, 2019,[22] Yazidis fled their home villages in Syrian Kurdistan, fearing that history will repeat itself.[21] One villager was quoted saying, "We left in the middle of the night for fear that they would kill us as happened with our people in Sinjar".[23] The Turkish government publicly stated that it would clear its southern border of Kurds, primarily the YPG, YBŞ and other PKK backed groups, in what they claimed to be a resettlement plan for Syrian refugees living in Turkey.[23] This put Yazidis at double the risk for persecution by the Turks and other groups, by living in a Kurdish occupied area, and not being Muslim.[23] Yazidi officials signed a letter in September, 2019 saying: “the current events in northeastern Syria, if not halted, will annihilate Yazidis from their ancestral homeland in Syria”.[23] These threats maintain constant, even though the offensive is effectively over,[17] in the time before Turkey halted it's offensive, approximately 170,000 citizens were displaced, many of which were Yazidi. Turkey ultimately failed at capturing any majority Yazidi areas.[17] It is estimated that over 200,000 Yazidi people remain homeless or in shelters as a result of persecution by IS.[19]
Quotes[edit]
YJÊ Soldier: "For ISIS it's a haram. If you're killed by a woman, you don't go to paradise".[12]
Following the Turkish airstrikes on the Yazidi in August 2018, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Nadia Murad said: “Today Turkey carried several air strikes in different locations in Sinjar. Sinjar continues to be a war zone. How can Yazidis recover from this genocide or go back home”.[10]