Humanitarian

200 families displaced by fighting in Sinjar: official

The Kurdistan Region's Joint Crisis Center has done all the necessary preparations to receive these displaced families, Kalary added.

Kurdistan 24 2022/05/02 17:30

Hundreds of families were displaced from Sinjar by clashes between Iraqi Army and a PKK-affiliated militia on Monday, May 2, 2022 (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

Kurdistan PKK Iraqi Army Sinjar Sinjar Agreement YBS

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Nearly 200 families displaced by the renewed fighting between the Iraqi Army and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-affiliated groups in Sinjar (Shingal) are coming to the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province, Hussein Kalary, an official from the Joint Coordination Center, told Kurdistan 24 on Monday.

The Kurdistan Region's Joint Crisis Center has done all the necessary preparations to receive these displaced families, Kalary added.

On Sunday, fresh clashes broke out between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-affiliated Shingal Resistance Unit (YBS) and the Iraqi Army in Sinjar (Shingal) near the Sinune subdistrict and continued on Monday.

"After years of displacement, recent returnees are once again forced to flee their homes due to current armed clashes in Sinjar," Yezidi Nobel laureate Nadia Murad tweeted in response to the escalation.

"I call on the international community to intervene and work with the Iraqi government to resolve the region's ongoing security issues and protect civilians," she added.

After years of displacement, recent returnees are once again forced to flee their homes due to current armed clashes in Sinjar. I call on the international community to intervene & work with the Iraqi government to resolve the region's ongoing security issues & protect civilians.
— Nadia Murad (@NadiaMuradBasee) May 2, 2022

In October 2020, the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed the Sinjar Agreement with the support of the United Nations to "restore and normalize" the situation in the Yezidi town.

Per the agreement, a local force would be formed and put in charge of the town's security. However, PKK-affiliated groups refused to leave the Sinjar region and have clashed with the Iraqi Army.

Clashes also broke out on the evening of Apr. 18 between the PKK-affiliated Internal Security Forces (Asayish in Kurdish) and the Iraqi Army after the Iraqi soldiers attempted to remove the checkpoints put in place by the militia.