Thousands of people have fled from the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar and surrounding areas due to clashes between Iraq’s army and the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a Yazidi militia with ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Iraqi military launched an operation to clear the area of YBS forces on Sunday, but heavy fighting continued into Monday, Al Jazeera reported.
The Yazidis have refused Iraqi demands to pull out of Sinjar. The Iraqi army is using heavy artillery and tanks against YBS forces, the Êzîdxan Protection Force, and civilians, The New Arab reported.
Islamic State in 2014, after the Iraqi army’s retreat, took over Sinjar, which is a Yazidi-majority district along Iraq’s northwestern border with Syria. The Yazidis were subject to a campaign of genocide against them. The YBS then drove ISIS out of the district with assistance from the PKK.