UNHCR to cooperate with KRG's Joint Crisis Coordination Centre to assess needs of civilians displaced by Sinjar clashes

"All measures must be taken for security operations not to impact civilians."
A picture taken on August 17, 2015 shows buildings that were damaged during fighting between Kurdish Peshmerga forces and ISIS militants in the town of Sinjar. (Photo: Safin Hamed/AFP)
A picture taken on August 17, 2015 shows buildings that were damaged during fighting between Kurdish Peshmerga forces and ISIS militants in the town of Sinjar. (Photo: Safin Hamed/AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, will work with the Joint Crisis Coordination Centre of the Kurdistan Regional Government to assess the humanitarian needs of civilians displaced by two days of clashes that erupted in Sinjar, said the agency's Iraq representative on Tuesday. 

"646 families reportedly fled Sinjar due to ongoing armed clashes to Duhok region yesterday," Jean-Nicolas Beuze tweeted, citing the official Kurdistan Regional Government estimate. 

"All measures must be taken for security operations not to impact civilians," he added. 

"We are working with the @JccKrg (Joint Crisis Coordination Center) to assess humanitarian needs."

More than 3,500 people have been displaced since clashes broke out between the Iraqi Army and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-affiliated Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) fighters in the Yezidi-majority region of Sinjar in western Nineveh province on Sunday night. 

The displaced civilians fled to the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province, where most of the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the Kurdistan Region are located. 

Read More: Displacement of civilians in Sinjar' temporary': Iraqi ministry 

An official at the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displaced told the Iraqi News Agency on Tuesday that the displacement will only be temporary and that the situation in Sinjar has already calmed.