Iraqi army, Yazidi force prepared for ‘unwanted situations’: Commander

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi government has sent military reinforcement to the border with Syria, near the Yazidi heartland of Shingal, a Yazidi commander said the deployment is a preparation for “unwanted situations,” amid a recent surge of violence in Syria.

“There is a lot of military reinforcement along the border of Shingal with the Syrian border, even though Shingal is far away from the issue, it is around 400 to 500 kilometers away from the places where there are battles,” Haider Shasho, commander of the Ezidikhan Protection Forces, told Rudaw’s Hawar Jalaladin. 

The reinforcement at the borders aims to prevent the “infiltration of terrorist groups” into Iraq and attack the Yazidi heartland, according to Shasho.

“There are fears [of infiltrations] and I hope that the Iraqi army and the Iraqi government do their jobs, protect the borders, and do not allow terrorist organizations [to enter Iraq],” he said.

The Yazidi commander noted that the Iraqi army forces, as well as forces from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), are at borders and “equipped with all types of weapons.”

Shasho stressed that the next phase needs cooperation between the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi forces.

Since the start of the conflict in Syria, fear started growing among the Yazidi community of the reemergence of the Islamic State (ISIS), or the infiltration of extremist groups through the Syrian borders in Iraq, especially when the Jihadists spearhead the ongoing rebel attacks against the Syrian regime in Aleppo. 

Since the start of the escalations in Syria, several violations have been recorded against the Yazidi community. At least two Yazidi men have been killed by direct fire from Syrian rebels in Afrin and Aleppo since the start of the escalations, Yazidi rights activists told Rudaw.

Shasho said they are not in direct communication with Yazidis in Syria, and he called on international organizations and global powers to “prevent an atrocity” from happening against the Yazidi community.

A coalition of Syrian rebel groups spearheaded by the jihadist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched a major offensive against the Syrian army over the past week. They took control of the northern city of Aleppo, the largest in the country, and advanced their offensive into Hama province.

Besides the clashes between the rebels and the Syrian regime in Aleppo, the SNA, which is backed by Turkey and effectively controls the Kurdish city of Afrin, launched an offensive against Kurdish forces that held their positions in several towns such as Tel Rifaat and the Shahba area in northern Aleppo. 

As the clashes erupted in Syria, Iraq immediately closed its western borders. The interior ministry said on Monday that the country’s border with Syria is secured “better than any point in Iraq’s history,” dismissing concerns regarding the spillover of the conflict into Iraq.