Duhok official says around 300 families have returned to Shingal

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Nearly 300 families from Shingal who were displaced to camps in Duhok have returned home, the head of Duhok’s migration and crisis office told Rudaw on Thursday, adding that the province has ceased receiving displaced families and individuals from the Yazidi heartland.

The Iraqi army had been attempting to re-control Shingal from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-affiliated Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) since April 18. The YBS controlled parts of Shingal months after it was invaded by the Islamic State (ISIS) militants in August 2014. Clashes between the army and the Yazidi force escalated on May 2 and the following day, leading to the death of one soldier and another militant.

As a result of the recent conflict, hundreds of families from Shingal were displaced to parts of the Kurdistan Region, mainly finding shelter in camps in Duhok. Nonetheless, families have begun returning to Shingal as officials from the Iraqi army have announced that the situation in the city is “secure”.

“After the Iraqi government promised the people of Shingal that they would prevent the repetition of clashes in the city, around 200 to 300 families displaced from Shingal to Duhok have returned to their hometown,” Pir Dayan Pir Jaafar, the head of Duhok province's migration and crisis office, told Rudaw on Thursday.

Jaafar added that Duhok is no longer receiving displaced individuals from Shingal, and has not done so in the last three days, adding that even if there have been cases of displacement in the past few days, they would be very minimal.

The official previously told Rudaw on Friday that 711 families, consisting of 10,261 people, had been displaced from Shingal to Duhok province since May 2.

There are currently 135,703 individuals, mainly Yazidis, in 15 camps in Duhok and Nineveh governorates, as well around 195,000 further IDPs living independently in the area, 90 percent of whom are Yazidis, according to UNHCR Iraq, placing the total number of displaced Yazidis in the Kurdistan Region at around 300,000.

Saeed al-Jaiashi, strategic affairs advisor at the Iraqi National Security Advisory, told Rudaw on Saturday that the Iraqi army had been able to control up to 20 checkpoints in Shingal, adding that some of the displaced families had begun returning home.