“A number of officials from Iraqi Army had visited us and asked for the return of these Arabs, and we told them that if they return there will be social issues between Yezidis and them. But today 55 families — escorted by a large number of Iraqi forces — returned to Gulat village in western Snune, near Sharafaddin,” said Qasim Shasho, a Peshmerga commander in Shingal on Wednesday.
Shingal’s cities, towns and villages — largely destroyed during the ISIS conflict — are highly militarized with various forces including those loyal to Iraq, Shiite paramilitias, the Kurdistan Regional Government and those like the Shingal Protection Units (YBS) who are backed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“It was the population of these villages who kidnapped our women and the Yezidis will not tolerate their return, resulting in a social issue,” said Shasho.
These families and some Arab families had fled when Peshmerga liberated their villages from ISIS in 2015. These families are accused by some locals of supporting ISIS in their atrocities against Yezidis.
Abadi’s decree also allows hundreds of families to return to other disputed areas such as Rabi'a and Zummar, according to Khudeda Juke, a Yezidi commander in Hashd al-Shaabi who heads the Snune district.
“These families have returned without informing us, but a few days ago Haider al-Abadi ordered the return of Arabs of Shingal, Rabi’a and Zummar to their places,” said Juke.
He also warned against the return of these families, warning ‘the creation of social issues” but also says that “Now the decision has been made, no matter if Yezidis like it or not. They will finally return.”
Hundreds of thousands of Yezidis are displaced in the Kurdistan Region. Thousands have sought asylum abroad. Shingal, a disputed are claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, is difficult for the KRG to reach following the federal takeover of northern Shingal in October 2017.
Large-scale stabilization, reconstruction, and return has not occurred more than five years after ISIS extremists swept across the border from Syria, and then killed, abducted and raped thousands of Yezidis who were considered non-believers and devil worshipers per ISIS doctrine.
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