SOUTH KURDISTAN (IRAQ) MESOP: WHILE KOBANI IS STILL OCCUPIED – PESH LIBERATE SHINGAL

Iraqi Peshmerga forces enter Kurdish Yazidi town of Sinjar

December 20, 2014 – AFP / MESOP / RUDAW – SINJAR, Northwest Iraq,— Iraqi Kurdish forces liberated Shingal (Sinjar), a predominately Kurdish Yazidi besieged town since August by Islamic State (IS) militants. Peshmerga forces have forced IS militants to withdraw from the town after their heavy losses and defeat, KDP official Saeed Shingali revealed to Rudaw. “IS militants are fleeing the city defeated” Zaid Ali, a Peshmerga commander on the front-lines said. He also said, “IS militants are suffering heavy losses in Bahaj town, nearby Shingal”.

Kurdish leaders celebrated the victory over IS militants, whereby remaining Yazidis were able to reach safety, having resisted capture by IS. The operation to liberate Shingal town was conducted solely by Peshmerga forces, which haswww.Ekurd.net forced IS to retreat. “The IS and its militants are fleeing to Syria rapidly” Rudaw’s reporter in Shingal said.“This is the biggest victory against IS since the beginning of the War. We have managed to open a corridor so the people stuck on the mountain can reach safety”, Head of Kurdistan’s national security council Masrour Barzani said. “Peshmerga forces launched a new offensive south of Rabia to Mount Sinjar” at 8:00 am (0500 GMT), the Kurdistan Regional Security Council (KRSC) said in a statement. It said Peshmerga forces took complete control of a number of villages north of the vast mountain range, a 60-kilometre-long (40 miles) ridge in northwestern Iraq. Barzani has described the operation, in which he said 8,000 Peshmerga are involved, as the biggest and most successful so far against IS jihadists. There are other groups involved in the operation, such as the Syrian Kurdish YPG group which is also leading the battle in the town of Kobani, on Syria’s border with Turkey.

Among the other outfits who have had a presence on the mountain or around it are the armed wing of Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a local Yazidi offshoot known as the YBS. The YPG issued a statement on Friday saying they were moving south and taking villages on the Iraqi border back from IS to connect with PKK and YBS forces moving north. Their aim is reopen the corridor that saw biblical scenes in August when tens of thousands of Yazidis fled after a first siege of the mountain in August.

The peshmerga also said they were approaching the town of Sinjar, which lies on the southern side of the mountain.Sporadic clashes between Iraqi Kurdish fighters and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) extremists, as well as other logistics problems, are delaying the evacuation of the last Yazidis still trapped on Mount Sinjar, an Iraqi lawmaker said Friday. Fighting was still underway near the mountain, said Mahma Khalil, himself a member of Iraq’s minority Yazidi community. He said the need to plan and prepare for logistics and transportation contributed to the delay. However, Khalil said Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were able to ease the plight of the thousands of Yazidis still trapped on Mt. Sinjar and delivered food and supplies to them. “The situation of these trapped people is better now, with the fresh supplies and we hope to evacuate them as soon as possible,” Khalil told The Associated Press.