By Mustafa al-Kadhimi for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The year 2015 saw the liberation of several areas of Salahuddin (Tikrit) and Anbar (Ramadi - pictured) provinces from the grasp of the Islamic State with operations toward that end ongoing. Yet, to date […]
By Simon Kent. According to fighters from northern Iraq's Yezidi ethnic minority, ISIS or "Daesh" have opened a new supply route from Syria to Mosul, which enters the northern occupied city from the south and moves through at Ba'aj, south of Sinjar. Yezidis currently working with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been observing the route, which […]
Following the ISIL offensive on Mosul, over 275,000 people from Mount Sinjar area - including a vast majority of Yazidis - were driven out of their homes. Abandoned Yazidi settlements were either systematically demolished or seized by ISIL fighters. Some 6,000 homes are thought to have been destroyed or burned down in the district of […]
By Simon Kent. Kurdish Peshmerga forces in newly liberated Sinjar, the Yazidi majority town en route to Mosul, have discovered an ISIS tunnel complex of fighting positions. The Wall Street Journal has documented the find in a photo essay report. Tunnel complexes have previously been used by ISIS in the battle of Jurf al Sakhar last year, […]
By Simon Kent. Kurdish and Yezidi forces made the grim discovery of a mass grave over the weekend, containing the remains of up to 70 women near the town of Sinjar. Sinjar, a key town on the approach to ISIS occupied Mosul, is home to many of the Yazidi community and was recently recaptured in a […]
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." […]
By Shelly Kittleson for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. The road to the front line runs close to the Syrian border, through Yazidi towns once occupied by the Islamic State (IS) and bombarded by airstrikes. Peshmerga fighters allied with various other […]
National Overview Allied forces are now understood to be in preparations for a direct assault on Tikrit city, following a large scale retreat of ISIS fighters from towns and villages protecting main routes. In total some 20,000 troops, alongside PMU militias and Sunni tribesmen have advanced on the town, closing off routes to the south […]
CHARITY CONCERT An evening of Kurdish music An evening for the people of Sinjar An evening to help keep a child warm this winter The KRG UK Representation is pleased to support a fund-raising concert at St Marylebone Church in London at 7pm on Saturday November 29 to buy blankets for the children of Sinjar who are sheltering in […]
By Shaida al-Ameen for Al-Monitor. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Thousands of Yazidi families currently face a dire humanitarian situation. They have been scattered in refugee camps, while the fate of hundreds of Yazidi girls who were kidnapped by the Islamic State (IS) remains unknown. […]
By John Lee. The United Nations have declared the highest level of emergency in northern Iraq, estimating that over a million people have been displaced in the aftermath of the June offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Nicolay Mladenov, head of UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission: Iraq) has said that in […]
By Patrick Schmidt. Following the arrival of additional American military advisors to Iraq yesterday, the Defense Department reported that some of those troops had traveled to Sinjar Mountain. After almost a week of airstrikes by American aircraft and a simultaneous offensive by Kurdish security forces, thousands Yazidis who were trapped on the mountain can now […]
