Over 3,500 Yazidis Rescued from ISIS Clutches Since 2014: Official Data

Shafaq News/ A total of 3,570 Yazidi men, women, and children have been rescued from ISIS since 2014, data released by the office of the Yazidi survivors in the Kurdistan region showed.

Hussein Kour, the official spokesperson for the Office, in a statement to Shafaq News Agency, shed light on the multitude of challenges faced over the nine-year span of the Office's operations.

"Initially, we were up against a formidable terrorist organization, where each mistake in our operation put the lives of the captives in peril," Kour siad, "further exacerbating the situation was the lack of adequate support from the international community and the Baghdad government."

In addition to these obstacles, the changing appearances of many captives, particularly children who have grown over the years, have complicated the identification process.

"With the passage of nine years, their features have significantly altered, making it now more challenging to recognize them," added Kour.

A press release by the office in January 4th acknowledged the considerable efforts made by the President of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, to rescue the Yazidi women from ISIS.

It is estimated that over 6,000 Yazidi women were abducted, with more than 2,660 still missing or in captivity.

Sinjar is a Yazidi-majority town in Iraq's northern Nineveh governorate that suffered heavily during the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) onslaught in 2014, leading to genocide and other systematic abuses against its communities.

With ISIS no longer a major threat, political disorder and security skirmishes continue to impede the recovery of the war-scarred community.

Sinjar is considered one of fourteen disputed territories claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, which is defined by the rivalry between government and territory control. Additionally, as Sinjar shares borders with Syria's al-Hasakah province to the northwest and Turkey's Silopi province to the northeast, it remains in a regional quandary.

Under the auspices of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed on October 29, 2020, a security and stability agreement for the district of Sinjar, aiming for reconciliation.

In terms of security, the agreement calls for the deportation of all armed groups and the appointment of 2,500 local security forces to Sinjar. However, the call for local police to re-control the area remains vital—absent implementation. The agreement also mentions the withdrawal of the Kurdistan Workers Party from the Sinjar district. The PKK moved to Sinjar with the advantage of a security vacuum in 2014 as the ISIS attacks ensued. Soon after the establishment of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a political wing was founded under the Sinjar Democratic Autonomous Council and Yazidi Freedom and Democracy Party. With the PKK’s integration and the recruitment of Yazidis to the YBS to help with the area’s security, it created further obstacles to the group’s departure.

However, despite the repeated calls from the KRG, the agreement introduced to the public with minimal consultation for the local community remains with stalled with a little appetite for implantation.