Germany to Train Yazidi Fighters

By Simon Kent.

As of today, personnel from the German army will be training fighters from the Yazidi ethnic minority in northern Iraq. The Yazidi’s (pictured: Yazidi religious symbol) are an ancient religion from Northern Iraq and shot to global attention in June last year, when they became the target of a genocidal attack by the “Islamic State.”

The plight of the Yazidi civilians, sheltering on Sinjar Mountain from advancing IS fighters, triggered US bombing raids and the new US intervention in the country.

Now Yazidis have their own anti-IS militias, allied to the Kurdish Regional Government.

According to German Minister of Defence Urshula Von der Leyen,

“Starting today, the Bundeswehr [German army] will train Yazidi battalions in crisis-hit regions that want to liberate their occupied territories from ISIL in northern Iraq.”

(Source: Today’s Zaman)