ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi army has recently been able to control up to 20 checkpoints in the Yazidi heartland of Shingal, an Iraqi national security advisor told Rudaw on Friday. The development follows weeks of clashes between the army and the militia group affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the district.
Saeed al-Jaiashi, strategic affairs advisor at the Iraqi National Security Advisory, stated that the situation in Shingal has entered “a new stage” as the recent clashes between the army and the PKK-affiliated Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) has resulted in the removal of several checkpoints previously held by the YBS.
“Ten to 20 checkpoints have fallen to the control of the army, in addition to six checkpoints on the borders that have also been controlled by the Iraqi army,” Jaiashi told Rudaw’s Fuad Rahim on Friday.
The Iraqi army has been attempting to fully re-control Shingal since April 18. The YBS controlled parts of Shingal months after it was invaded by the Islamic State (ISIS) militants in summer 2014. Clashes between the army and the all-Yazidi force escalated on May 2 and the following day, leading to the death of a soldier and a militant. The situation has been calm since late Tuesday but people fear that the tensions could escalate any minute.
The Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed an agreement in 2020 to “normalize” the situation in Shingal whichs asks for the withdrawal of all armed forces and asks for the establishment of a force from locals to replace them. The agreement has been rejected by the PKK and its proxies.
The KRG has claimed that Baghdad has failed to implement the agreement.
The advisor claimed that 70 percent of the security aspect of the agreement has been completed “on the ground” as Iraq’s interior ministry has successfully recruited 2500 policemen from the people of the city but Baghdad has failed to pay their salaries.
He said once the newly-recruited policemen are paid, they will replace the army and the army will retreat to the vicinity of Shingal and the bordering areas.
The tensions have once again displaced Shingal residents to the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province. Hundreds of thousands of them were displaced to the Kurdistan Region when ISIS attacked the district.
Pir Dayan Pir Jaafar, the head of Duhok province's migration and crisis office, told Rudaw on Friday that 711 families, consisting of 10,261 people, have been displaced from Shingal to Duhok province since May 2.
Jaiashi said families have begun returning to Shingal.
