Since 3 August 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have been attacking one of the Kurdish nations’s most ancient and holy areas, Shengal (Sinjar) and its surroundings; massacring Kurdish Ezidis, believers of the most ancient Kurdish religion. Following these attacks more than 50,000 Ezidi Kurds have taken refuge in the Shengal Mountains. More than 300,000 women, children and elderly people have been displaced. Thousands of women, their numbers still not clear, have been abducted and sold into slavery or have been victims of rape. The people in the Shengal Mountains are now confronting starvation and thirst. Almost 300 children have died from malnutrition and dehydration and this number continues to rise each day. According to reports hundreds of women have committed suicide in order not to fall into the hands of ISIS.
With their barbaric attacks against the peoples, religions and communities of Kurdistan and the Middle East, ISIS terrorists have committed crimes against humanity and have brought death and destruction to every household in the region. Beheadings, forced migration, the seizure of property and land, sexual attacks against women, mutilation of girls and the abandonment of children to starvation and death are ongoing in Kobane, Mosul, Shengal and the UN governed Makhmur (Maxmur) refugee camp as well as other areas of Kurdistan. Everything and everyone that is of historical value, including centres of religion, heritage and art, are targets for ISIS.
Following the liberation act of Bashur (southern Kurdistan) and Rojava (western Kurdistan) from the terrorist groups of ISIS, on 13th August a large unit of guerrillas affiliated to East Kurdistan Defense Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Rojhilatê Kurdistanê, YRK) have taken their way from Medya Defense Areas to the city of Jalaula (Celewla) to fight against ISIS gangs in South Kurdistan. Firat News Agency reported from Behdinan.
YRK guerrillas are also being accompanied by Women’s Defence Forces (Hezen Parastina Jin, HPJ) guerrillas.
In Jalaula town of the Xaneqin city in South Kurdistan, YRK and HPJ fighters will join the Kurdish Resistance Forces which involves the YPG-YPJ, HPG-YJA STAR, Shengal and Maxmur militia and Peshmerga forces that have recently formed a line of defense against ISIS gangs in South Kurdistan.
In this connection also HPG-YJA STAR guerrilla units from the Medya Defence Areas have reached the Ezidis’ most sacred place, Lalesh, to protect it from attack.
The guerrillas said they would defend the Kurdish Ezidis against all manner of brutal attacks.
HPG-YJA STAR guerrillas are continuing to take measures to protect Kurdish Ezidis against ISIS gang attacks.
After Shengal, Maxmur and Kirkuk, a large detachment of HPG-YJA STAR guerrillas has arrived in the Lalesh area, and immediately taken up defensive positions.
While the terrorist forces of ISIS intend to occupy the Rojava and southern Kurdistan, Turkish and Iranian troops raided the guerrilla’s positions in the border areas.
In this regards, on 12th August the Martyrs Committee of Free and Democratic Society of Eastern Kurdistan (KODAR) has reported that 4 guerrillas lost their lives and 1 was wounded in attacks launched by the Iranian army in Dalaho and Ciwanro in Rojhelat (eastern Kurdistan) against East Kurdistan Defense Units (YRK) forces.
KODAR says: “In a period in which the Kurdish people are struggling for their existence, the conspiratorial Iranian army has launched savage attacks on our guerrilla forces in Rojhelat since the spring while claiming it is a period of ceasefire”.
Following the ISIS assault on Shengal on 3 August, YPG-YPJ fighters and HPG-YJA STAR guerrillas sent large forces to the region to save the tens of thousands of people taking refuge on Mount Shengal from the threat of massacre.
United Nations’ rights monitors have called for urgent international action to avoid a potential genocide of Kurdish Ezidis in the militancy-riddled northern Iraq within days.
The UN monitors say thousands of the Kurdish minority are at risk of death either by violence or hunger and thirst.
“All possible measures must be taken urgently to avoid a mass atrocity and potential genocide within days or hours,” said Rita Izsak, the UN’s minority rights expert.
Chaloka Beyani, the UN’s monitor on the rights of displaced people, has also called for efforts to protect the community and promptly provide it with humanitarian aid.
The bulk of the Ezidi population live in southern Kurdistan, where they number about 500,000. The two biggest communities are in Shekhan, northeast of Mosul, and in Shengal, near the Rojava border and around 80 kilometres from Mosul. Ezidis in Rojava live primarily in two communities, one in the Cizire area and the other in the Kurd-Dagh (Kurd Mountains, Kurdish: Çiyayê Kurmênc). There may be between about 12,000 and 15,000 Ezidi in Rojava today. Ezidis are ethnic Kurds with the Ezidi belief system. Outside of Shengal, the Ezidis are concentrated in areas north of Mosul, and in the Kurdish-controlled province of Dohuk. For Ezidis, the land holds deep religious significance; adherents from all over the world—remnant communities exist in northern Kurdistan, Germany, and elsewhere—make pilgrimages to the holy Kurdish city of Lalesh.
Rojhelat.info