Yazidis in northern Iraq forced to flee their homes a second time
Fighting between Peshmerga forces and the PKK-backed Yazidi militia group YBS is forcing the Yazidi community to seek refuge in the Sinjar mountains.
This is the second time in less than three years that the Yazidi community has had to flee violence.
Yazidis in northern Iraq are again being forced to flee their homes due to renewed fighting.
Peshmerga forces from the Kurdistan Regional Government and a Yazidi militia called the YBS are fighting for control of the Sinjar district.
The YBS is backed by the PKK terrorist group.
"By the first of August I was back in my home in Sinoni. Things started getting better. The government, the Iraqis and the Kurds were doing their best. And then the fighting erupted. They started shooting in Khanasoor. People couldn't stay, and we all fled to the valley by the Sinjar Mountain," said a Yazidi refugee Khalaf Uzer Khalaf.
This is the second time in less than three years that the Yazidi community has had to flee violence. In 2014, tens of thousands of Yazidis fled Daesh violence, including massacres and mass rapes.
They had been able to return to their homes after Daesh was pushed out by Iraqi forces, but recent fighting means they are forced to move back to the mountains.
TRT World 's John Joseph Regan reports.
Copyright © 2024 TRT World.