Free Republic

GERSHIN, Iraq — A group of Yazidi women and children reunited with their families in Iraq Saturday after five years of captivity at the hands of the Islamic State group, hugging and kissing relatives in emotional scenes that underscored their yearslong ordeal and that of their devastated community. Elated families met their loved ones at a rural truck stop on the road between Sinjar and Dohuk, tossing candy in the air like confetti, the women ululating with joy. The 18 returning children, aged 10 to 15, appeared weary and at times uneasy with the attention of the media and officials....

SDF fighters continue to save civilians as part of the Jazira Storm Campaign, which is carried out to end ISIS mercenaries. On 3 August 2014, a boy from Shengal called Celil Xelil was kidnapped by ISIS. He was 10 at the time. Now, at the age of 15 he has been rescued by SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) in Baghouz, the last ISIS garrison. Celil Xelil was among the rescued civilians in the village Baghouz. He learned that his family is in Hewlêr. SDF sources said that the little Yazidi boy forgot Kurdish and spoke Arabic. On 3 August 2014, Celil...

The incident occurs after a meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Tuesday. ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkish warplanes have conducted airstrikes in the Yezidi (Ezidi)-populated city of Shingal in northern Iraq; sources told Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday. According to the sources, there were some airstrikes to the west of Baraa village, located close to the border with Syria. Snip- In April 2017, Turkish airstrikes supposedly targeting the PKK-affiliated YBS killed five Peshmerga soldiers and wounded nine others, as well as causing extensive damage to the area, resulting in condemnation from...

On August 3, 2014, the Islamic State attacked the Yezidis of Sinjar in Iraq’s Nineveh province. Thousands of Yezidis were massacred and many others abducted, while more than half a million fled for their lives. Three years later, the conditions that led to ISIS’s rise and the failure to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity against the Yezidis, Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities—including the collapse of local governance and security—have not been addressed. The successful political reconstruction of Iraq and Kurdistan depends on the ability to ensure justice and fair treatment for the region’s most vulnerable populations. The...