Ezidi YBS Fighters To Be Integrated Into Iraqi Security Forces In Sinjar Ceremony Today
The integration is part of PM al-Zaidi's plan to bring weapons under state control, with fighters integrated into federal institutions while remaining in Sinjar under their protection mandate, following negotiations that began in February 2026
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - A ceremony is being held Monday in the Sinjar Mountains to begin the process of integrating fighters from the Sinjar Resistance Units, known as YBS, into Iraq's security institutions, with approximately four to five thousand fighters set to become members of Iraqi security forces, an informed source in Sinjar who requested anonymity told Kurdistan 24.
"The process will be implemented in several phases and approximately five thousand fighters will become members of Iraq's security institutions," the source said. "According to the integration mechanism, those fighters who become part of Iraq's federal institutions will remain in Sinjar under the name of protecting the area."
The source confirmed that a number of Iraqi security and military officials and YBS commanders will attend the ceremony.
The YBS integration into Iraqi security institutions falls within the framework of PM Ali al-Zaidi's plan to bring weapons under state control. One week ago, YBS spokesman Hadi Elias disclosed that negotiations with senior Iraqi security and military officials had begun in February 2026, with the aim of reaching an agreement to organize and enter the Iraqi defence system. He noted that the prolonged nature of the negotiation process is normal given that the matter concerns the future of a community, geography, women's rights, and security institutions simultaneously, and expressed hope the process would serve the stability, sovereignty of Iraq, and the Ezidi community in the near future.
The Sinjar Resistance Units were established after ISIS attacks on Sinjar and the genocide against the Ezidi people in 2014, comprising a Ezidi armed force with close ties to the PKK in the Sinjar area. In October 2020, Erbil and Baghdad signed the Sinjar Agreement, which emphasized the withdrawal of all armed forces outside the state system and PKK-affiliated groups from the area. In the period since, Iraq issued a decision banning the PKK, which led the YBS to intensify efforts to enter the Iraqi security and defence system through dialogue as a formal and legal force, protected from threats.
The integration of approximately 5,000 YBS fighters into federal Iraqi security institutions while they remain stationed in Sinjar represents a significant step in the normalization of the Sinjar file, which has been one of the most complex unresolved disputes in the Kurdistan Region's relationship with Baghdad since 2014, and a source of ongoing tension involving Iraq, Türkiye, the PKK, and the Ezidi community simultaneously.