During the summer of 2014 the Islamic State (IS) seized the
Sinjar district of Ninewa province. Afterward they singled out the local Yazidi
population for mass
execution and slavery. IS would go into a village, separate the men from
women, take the males away and shoot them, while ferrying the females to
different parts of the province or Syria to be used for sex, slavery or
marriage to fighters. Later in the year Kurdish and Yazidi forces retook the
area. Recently there have been reports of Yazidi and Turkish Kurds taking
revenge on Arabs they blame for collaborating with IS.
At the end of January
2015, Yazidi and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters from Turkey were
accused of attacking four villages in the Sinjar district. According to Reuters
on January 25 they went into Sibaya and Chiri and then Khazuga and Sayer the
next day. The villages were surrounded and then the Yazidi and PKK men went
through them killing 21-25 and taking away another 17-50 depending upon the
news source. The peshmerga stopped a further two towns from being assaulted.
Yazidis from neighboring Gohbal said that all the Arabs in Sibaya were IS supporters
and had looted Yazidi homes after the area was taken. Afterward two Yazidis
were killed probably as a reprisal.
The Yazidi community in Sinjar was devastated by IS. There are still hundreds of their women under
IS captivity, and parts of their land are still occupied by the Islamists. The
desire for revenge is strong. Unlike in other parts of Iraq it is not Sunnis specifically that are being blamed, but Arabs in general that are being vilified. Some Yazidis are now seeking payback as
seen by the attacks upon the four villages. This is just another sign of how
Iraqi society is fraying and the devastating impact the Islamic State has wrought
upon the country. Its legacy will have a lasting negative effect upon the
nation with score settling just one of them.
SOURCES
Coles, Isabel, “Iraqi Yazidis take revenge as Islamic State
atrocities unearthed,” Reuters, 2/10/15
Joumah, Khales, “The Sinjar Massacre: Yazidis Take Revenge
Against Extremists’ Collaborators,” Niqash, 1/29/15
3 comments:
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." - Nietzsche
-OIF Vet
Great quote
If they were indeed collaborators, then it was justice that they were killed.
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