Sinjar, Iraq: Fahd Qassem was just 11 years old when ISIS militants overran his Yazidi community in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq in August 2014 and took him captive.
The attack marked the beginning of what became the systematic slaughter, enslavement and rape of thousands of Yazidis that shocked the world and displaced most of the ancient religious minority of 550,000. During the initial attack, which began in the early hours of August 3, thousands were rounded up and killed.
Many others are believed to have died in captivity. Survivors fled the slopes of Mount Sinjar, where some had been trapped for weeks under ISIS siege.
The attack on the Yazidis – an ancient religious minority in eastern Syria and northwestern Iraq that draws on Zoroastrian, Christian, Manichean, Jewish and Muslim beliefs – was part of ISIS's efforts to establish a caliphate.
At one point, the group controlled a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria before it was pushed back by US-backed forces and Iranian-backed militias and collapsed in 2019.
Qasim, now 21, lives in a small apartment on the edge of a refugee camp in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, far from his hometown.
He was trained as a child soldier and fought hard before ISIS collapsed in Syria's Boghuz in 2019, but only after losing half of his lower leg in an airstrike by US-led forces.
“I'm not planning any future in Iraq,” he said, awaiting word on whether to apply for a visa to a Western country.
“Those who are going back say they fear a repeat of what happened in 2014.”
Qasim's reluctance to return is shared by many. A decade after what has been recognized by many governments and UN agencies as genocide, the Sinjar region has been largely destroyed.
The old city of Sinjar is a jumbled mound of gray and brown stone, while villages like Kojo, where hundreds were killed, are crumbling ghost towns.
Limited services, poor electricity and water, and what locals say is inadequate government compensation for reconstruction have made resettlement challenging.
power struggle
The security situation complicates the situation. A mosaic of armed groups that fought for the liberation of Sinjar remain in this strategic corner of Iraq and hold real power on the ground.
This is despite the 2020 Senegal Accord, which called for the withdrawal of these groups and the appointment of a mayor with a police force made up of locals.
And from the skies above, Turkish drones attack fighters aligned with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is outlawed by Turkey. Civilians are among those killed in these attacks, which has increased the feeling of insecurity.
Akhtin Nafam, a 25-year-old commander in the Sinjar Protection Units (YBS) aligned with the PKK, one of the armed factions in the region, defends their continued presence:
“We are in control of this area and we are responsible for protecting Sinjar against all foreign attacks,” he said.
Vengeance speaks in a room decorated with pictures of his slain comrades, numbering more than 150, and looks skeptically at the Sinjar agreement.
We will fight with all our might against anyone who tries to implement this plan. It will never succeed.”
Government efforts
As the impasse continues, Sinjar remains undeveloped. Returning families receive about $3,000 from the government once.
Meanwhile, more than 200,000 Yazidis remain in Kurdistan, many of them living in dilapidated tents. The Iraqi government is pushing to break up these camps and insists that the time has come for people to return home.
You can't blame people for losing hope. “The extent of damage and displacement is enormous, and very little has been done to address it for many years.”
He said that this government has taken Sinjar seriously.
The country plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars – including all previously unspent funds since 2014 – on development and infrastructure, including paying compensation, building two new hospitals and a university, and connecting Sinjar to the country's water network for the first time. . Sanjari, who is himself a member of the Yazidi community, said: “There is hope to restore life.
However, the presence of around 50,000 ISIS fighters and their families across the border in Syria in detention centers and camps raises fears of a repeat of history.
The efforts of some Iraqi lawmakers to pass a general amnesty law that could lead to the release of many ISIS prisoners from Iraqi prisons only adds to these concerns. And the Yazidi fight for justice has been stalled since the government this year terminated the UN mission that sought to help prosecute ISIS fighters for international crimes, citing a lack of cooperation between it and the mission.
Despite the challenges, some Yazidis choose to return. Farhad Barkat Ali, a Yazidi activist and journalist who was displaced by ISIS, decided to return several years ago.
“I don't encourage everyone to return to Sinjar, but I also don't encourage them to stay in the displaced persons' camps,” he said from his home in the city of Sinjar in the stifling heat of the blackout.
“Having your own city – living in your own city – is something people can be proud of.”
