ISIS mercenaries committed Shingal Massacre, but who paved way for them?

 Around two o'clock after midnight, on August 3, 2014, the sounds of gunfire heard in the villages of Tal Azir, Karzak, and Jadala, and then in the village of Siba Sheikh Khidr, at that time volunteers from the people of Shingal traded fire with ISIS mercenaries.

 The attack began on the village of Tal Azir, where the villagers were ready to confront ISIS and dug trenches, after they knew that that the Kurdistan Democratic Party Peshmerga would not defend them.

 Following Tal Azir's resistance, ISIS vehicles headed towards nearby Karzak, and there was "the first battle" against ISIS."

 After ISIS occupied the city of Mosul on June 10, 2014, it prepared to launch an attack on Shingal from there. However,  the KDP's Peshmerga and the Iraqi army abandoned them and left them without sufficient ammunition and weapons, which made ISIS advance amidst the resistance shown by the people of Shingal with their simple capabilities.

Speaking to ANHA Agency, eyewitnesses stated that the Peshmerga did not resist ISIS, and received orders to withdraw from Shingal.

On the first day of the massacre (the decree), footage broadcast by Ronahi TV showed convoys of Kurdistan Democratic Peshmerga forces leaving Shingal with some of its displaced people.

In an interview with ANHA, the Co-Chair of the Democratic Autonomous Administration Council in Shingal, Jihan Jellow said that ISIS committed atrocities against the Yazidi community in Shingal, but there were those who directed ISIS and paved the way for them."

Jihan confirmed that the Kurdistan Democratic Party is directly responsible for the massacre, and because of the escape of the Democratic Peshmerga, the fate of thousands of kidnapped Yazidi women remains unknown. The Yazidis there resisted until dawn, but the ammunition shortage and withdrawal Peshmerga and the Iraqi army, the villagers were forced to withdraw towards the top of Shingal Mountain. Furthermore, the resistance of Karzak was a way for hundreds of thousands of Shingal residents to head towards Shingal Mountain before arrival the ISIS mercenaries.

 New life corridor for the Yazidis

 Hundreds of thousands of Yazidis remained trapped without water or food in the scorching summer heat, until the People's Defense Forces(YPG) and YPJ intervened and headed from the mountains of Kurdistan towards Shingal and managed to open a humanitarian corridor from Shingal towards Rojava, so that this corridor represents the new life one for the Yazidis.

According to official statistics, 3,504 Yazidi women, 869 men and a large number of children were kidnapped by ISIS mercenaries, and more than 80 mass graves have been found in Shingal so far.

On August 4, 2014 (one day after ISIS attacked Shingal), the girls and boys of Shingal formed the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) to defend Shingal and liberate it from ISIS mercenaries. The fighters of the People's Defense Forces, the Free Women's Units-Star, the People's Protection Units (YPJ) and the Women's Protection Units (YJS) fought with in Khanasoor and Sinuni to Shilo, Siba Sheikh Khidr, Tal Banat, Rambusi and Dehola.

After the massacre, the Yazidis realized the truth about the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and the defending Shingal is the mission of its people. With the onset of February 2015, the women of Shingal also announced the establishment of the Women's Units-Shingal (YJS).

  Key dates in Shingal

 In March 2015, the Shingal Resistance Units and the Shingal Women's Resistance Units, in cooperation with the People's Defense Forces and the People's and Women's Protection Units, launched a campaign to liberate the villages in Shingal, reaching the city center. They defeated ISIS and liberateof the city of Shingal from ISIS mercenaries on November 14, 2015. Then they headed to liberate the surrounding villages.

 In April 2018, the General Command of the People's Defense Forces announced the withdrawal of its forces from Shingal, and confirmed that the Shingal Resistance Units, including the sons and daughters of Shingal, are the ones who carry out the tasks of protecting and defending Shingal, due to the Yazidis no longer trust the Baghdad government and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. In 2015, they announced  the establishment of the Yazidi Constituent Council, which in 2017 was transformed into the Democratic Autonomous Administration Council of Shingal.

In June 2016, the Yazidi Freedom and Democracy Party was formed, as a union between the Freedom and Democracy Movement and the Yazidi Assembly officially licensed by the Iraqi government, and on July 6, 2016, the Ezidkhan Asayish was formed as an internal security to enhance security and stability in Shingal.

In addition, the Yazidi Women's Council was formed, which in September 2016 was transformed into the Yazidi Women's Freedom Movement; the Yazidis also opened training academies and schools to teach their children their mother tongue.

 Attacks did not stop against Shingal

 With the failure of the genocide policy by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Turkish occupation state, the Turkish aircraft began launching continuous air strikes on Shingal and targeting leaders and pioneers in the Yazidi community, who played a major role in organizing, training and defending the Yazidi community.

In conjunction with these attacks, the Kurdistan Democratic Party forces and the Iraqi army forces launched attacks on Shingal more than once, while the Shingal Resistance Units and the Ezidkhan Asayish confronted them.

On October 9, 2020, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Iraqi government headed by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, under orders of Turkish state, concluded an agreement that the Yazidis described as a “decree in the name of law,” that was under the name of organizing administrative and security matters in Shingal.

Jihan Jellow, pointed out that the level of organization that Shingal has reached in establishing military and security forces and political and social organization is a turning point in the history of the Yazidi community.

 "But the decrees continue against us, in various forms, and this requires rallying around what was achieved in Shingal, and everyone rallying around their Autonomous Administration to thwart all hostile policies" She concluded.

a.k

ANHA