Yezidi commander warns of ex-ISIS members within military ranks in Sinjar

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – ISIS fighters are now serving within the security ranks in charge of the Yezidi-majority town of Sinjar, according to a Yezidi commander.

The remarks came from Haider Shasho, commander of YezidKhan Defence Forces (YDS), whose forces are now in charge of protecting Yezidi holy shrines in Sinjar.

In an interview with the Kurdistan 24 on Sunday, Shasho warned of the threat of ISIS fighters who carried out the genocide of the Yezidis in 2014.

Shasho said that the threat to Sinjar is not from organizations that commit crimes “in the name of terror,” but from within the security and administrative ranks.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government of Iraq signed an agreement last October to manage administrative and security sectors in the district, which hosts numerous armed entities, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Shia-majority Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). 

Despite its backing by international actors, including the UN, the agreement has not fulfilled a primary objective, the withdrawal of all foreign militias from the town and handing over of the area’s security to its Yezidi inhabitants.

The KRG regularly calls on the international community to assist in implementing the agreement, which it believes could improve the reconstruction process.