Several mass Yazidi graves have already been uncovered in the area north of Sinjar mountain, which was taken from Isis in December 2014.
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It was the biggest victory for the Syrian coalition, which was formed in mid-October.
“This is not a surprise”, the official said, requesting anonymity.
The northern Iraqi town of Sinjar has had a few initial burst of success from being reclaimed from ISIS forces as Kurdish military forces started attacking the city from three sides early Thursday morning.
On the same day as the Paris attacks, a serious blow was dealt against ISIS in Iraq, as the town of Sinjar was liberated from the jihadists by a mixed force led by Kurdish Peshmerga troops.
The Islamic State group militant known as “Jihadi John”, who was targeted in a US drone strike, horrified the world with his brutal beheadings of hostages.
Thousands of Yezidis remain unaccounted for more than a year after IS took a number of majority Yezidi towns in Iraq’s north.
The head of the Iraqi Kurdish government, President Masoud Barzani, held a news conference on Mount Sinjar to hail the retaking of the town and made clear that it would formally be incorporated into Kurdistan – a troubling development for the Iraqi government in Baghdad, which considers Sinjar an Iraqi-administered city.
Kurdish fighters have been attempting to sever IS’s primary line of communication between Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. “We will never forget what they did here, and we will have our revenge”.
A mass grave believed to contain the remains of more than 70 members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority has been unearthed east of Sinjar town, following an offensive against Isis by Kurdish forces. “We ran down the hill, like in a raid, and the whole time I saw just one dead Daesh [ISIS] fighter”. He described the situation in the city as still unsafe, however, and warned that it was too soon to declare victory.
Iraqi lawmaker Vian Dakhil, a Yazidi, said Sunday that the speedy return of the kidnapped Yazidi women to their families would be “a completion for the liberation of Sinjar”. The risks include ambushes from suicide bombers, roadside bombs and booby-trapped houses, he added.
On Thursday, the U.S.-led group targeting ISIS, the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, released a video showing “a representative sample” of the airstrikes that were carried out in northern Iraq over the past two weeks to support this week’s offensive.
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Kurdish fighters are in control of central Sinjar after taking it from Islamic State, the Kurdistan security council has said. However, additional information was not given as they claim it is hard to fully process the area as the graves are rigged with homemade bombs.
