SINJAR, Iraq (AP) – One by one, flags belonging to a patchwork of the armed forces were lowered in a northern Iraqi city once brutalized by the Islamic State group. The territorial claims symbolized by each have been replaced by the waving of one: the Iraqi state.
The hoisting of the national flag in Sinjar, which houses Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority, is the result of months of agreement for the federal government to restore order in a tangled network of paramilitaries who wreaked havoc in the district during the post-IS crisis. three years ago.
This month, the Iraqi army has been there for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Lt. Imad Hasan climbed a rocky ascent overlooking the deserted ruins of the old town of Sinjar, vacant since IS was dismissed. His gaze fell on an observation post on the other side of the mountain – the last one, he said, belonging to a local affiliate of an illegal Kurdish guerrilla group known as the PKK.
“We have problems with them,” he said. “Their leaders agreed to withdraw, but some of their fighters did not.”
Closing the transaction was difficult enough. Its implementation brings new problems. Critics say more than a change of flags will be needed to cement the rule of law in Sinjar.
The Yazidis, traumatized by the mass murder and enslavement of IS unleashed against them, they do not trust the Iraqi authorities, they say they have abandoned them to the brutality of the militants. With the weak central government, they fear that militias – including Shiite factions backed by Iranians – will gain influence over them.
The militias that have been guarding Sinjar for the past three years are a mix. These include peshmerga fighters in Iraq’s Kurdish autonomy zone, as well as the PKK and its affiliate of local Yazidi fighters, called Sinjar or YBS resistance units. There are also Yazidi units belonging to the People’s Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of state-sanctioned paramilitaries created in 2014 to defeat IS.
There are signs of Sinjar’s recovery. The center of his city was buzzing with buyers, traders – and the strange tank of the Iraqi army. Several of the 200,000 Yazidis displaced by the IS attack in 2014 are returning – about 21,600 returning between June and September, often compared to the rate of previous years.
But it scratches the surface and almost everyone harbors raw, unresolved trauma. Everyone vividly remembers the IS attack that killed parents and sons, enslaved thousands of women and sent survivors fleeing to Mount Sinjar.
In Sinjar’s market, a farmer, Zaidan Khalaf, first showed up telling The Associated Press how many relatives he lost under IS: 18. Others in the market did the same.
“We have lost our dignity,” he said.
Communities remain deeply divided and bitter with mutual resentment.
“What agreement?” Farzo Mato Sabo, 86, mocked the predominantly Yazidi village of Tal Binat, south of Sinjar. She and her three daughters were taken by IS militants and later rescued by smugglers. Eleven of her family members are still non-members.
“I lost everyone,” she cried. “Will he bring them back?”
Neighbor Tal Binat is the Sunni Arab village of Khailo.
“We were like brothers, but now the Yazidis are staying away from us,” said a tribal elder, Sheikh Naif Ibrahim. “I cannot distinguish between civilians and members of IS.”
Many Yazidis accuse local Sunni Arabs of supporting IS. Since the fall of the militants, Sunni Arabs have had friction with Yazidi militias – and a number of Sunnis have been killed. At the same time, many Yazidis reject the Kurdish peshmerga, who consider the Sinjar area part of their domain.
“Seven flags ruled us, you never knew who had power over you that day,” said Khalaf, the farmer.
The UN has focused on the return of displaced Yazidis, but that is not the only criterion for success, said Sajad Jiyad, a member of the Century Foundation. “It’s about services, schools, security and the ability to move without being shaken by different groups,” he said.
“This is a test of the effectiveness of post-war government and post-war liberation,” he said. “Is the government prepared enough to allow a return to normalcy?”
The Iraqi army will secure the area for the time being, with other factions leaving their positions, although many remain in the Sinjar area. According to the plan, the Kurdish authority will appoint a mayor – a perspective that many Yazidis oppose – and the local police will eventually take over security, working under the government intelligence agency and the national security adviser. The plan calls for the local employment of 2,500 new security personnel.
Most of the Yazidi leaders and residents interviewed said they were upset, the community was not consulted by the government in developing the plan.
“We are the ones who sacrificed ourselves, we lost our lives,” said Fahed Hamed, the mayor of Sinjar district. “We should have been the main interlocutors.”
“We want our own strength. We don’t trust anyone. “
The most trusted force of the locals is a faction that the plan is trying to eliminate – YBS, whose fighters are mostly Yazidi sinjar. While other forces withdrew from the IS attack in 2014, many remember that YBS fought to ensure a safe path for civilians.
“They were the only ones left to protect us,” said Sherko Khalaf, a mukhtar from the village of Yazidi.
Despite local protests, negotiations led to the withdrawal of YBS from downtown Sinjar.
The YBS fighters interviewed said they expected to be included as a unit of the People’s Mobilization Forces, giving them the much-needed political legitimacy. Some of the 2,500-3,500 YBS fighters are already on the PMF payroll.
In theory, the plan calls for the PMF to end its presence in the city as well. So far, they support forces and secure the outskirts of Sinjar. But Khal Ali, commander of the Lalish brigades, a Yazidi unit of the group, told the AP: “(PMF) will remain forever, we are kings at the head of the security forces in Sinjar.”
This perspective divided the Yazidis. Some will Yazidi factions PMF included in the security arrangement. Others fear it will bring Sinjar under the influence of Shiite Arab factions close to Iran that dominate the umbrella group.
“If the international community and the central government do not care about Sinjar, the PMF will take control,” said a prominent Yazidi leader, asking for anonymity. “It’s clear.”