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Kurdish Fighters Retake Iraqi City of Sinjar From ISIS Kurdish Fighters Retake Iraqi City of Sinjar From ISIS
(about 9 hours later)
SINJAR, Iraq — Kurdish and Yazidi fighters retook Sinjar on Friday morning, on the second day of a major offensive to reclaim this city in northern Iraq, which has been under the brutal domination of the Islamic State for more than 15 months. SINJAR, Iraq — Kurdish and Yazidi fighters retook the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar from Islamic State fighters on Friday morning, facing only pockets of resistance as the jihadists cleared out from a town they had brutally dominated for more than 15 months.
The pesh merga forces of the Kurdish government advanced to the center of the devastated city from the east, passing the rubble of empty houses and abandoned shops with battered metal storefronts. There they linked up with a Kurdish force that had advanced from the west, including fighters from a separatist group based in Syria known by the Kurdish abbreviation Y.P.G. and from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K. Passing the rubble of empty houses and abandoned shops with battered metal storefronts, Kurdistan pesh merga forces coming in from different directions linked up in the center of the devastated city. They were joined there by fighters from a rival group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., and also by fighters from the Yazidi religious minority, whose population was almost entirely rooted in the Sinjar region before fleeing enslavement and massacre at the hands of the Islamic State.
Members of the Yazidi religious minority, which faced rape, enslavement and death in large numbers after the Islamic State overran Sinjar in August 2014, took part in the fight.
Amid deafening bursts of celebratory gunfire, a Yazidi militia fighter with a walrus mustache, Edo Qasim Shamo, proclaimed excitedly that the moment of his people’s “liberation” was finally at hand.Amid deafening bursts of celebratory gunfire, a Yazidi militia fighter with a walrus mustache, Edo Qasim Shamo, proclaimed excitedly that the moment of his people’s “liberation” was finally at hand.
But even as he spoke, exchanges of gunfire in the northern part of the city made clear that it had not been entirely cleared of Islamic State fighters or the bombs they had planted. But even as the American-backed offensive appeared to have secured its goals after just two days, divisive political issues came to the forefront.
Shawkat Abdullah Haji, a private who had belts of ammunition draped around his neck, said he had been moving through Sinjar’s streets since 9 a.m. He, too, warned a visitor not to head north, into the heart of the city, because it was “not clear” yet. 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.
“Sinjar is part of the Kurdistan Region,” he said. “Aside from the Kurdistan flag, no other flag will rise in Sinjar.”
As he uttered those words, however, a different flag was also prominently displayed in Sinjar — that of the rival P.K.K. separatist movement, along with the banners of its Syrian Kurdish offshoot. After weeks of efforts by the Kurdistan government to sideline the P.K.K. during the Sinjar campaign, the rival fighters bitterly insisted that they had in fact led the fighting — not just on Friday, but for months.
“We have been fighting in this city for 15 months,” said a fighter who went by the nom de guerre Adil Haroon, explaining that the P.K.K. had come to the Yazidis’ aid immediately after the ISIS takeover in August 2014, as the pesh merga were leaving. “We fought. They don’t fight. Now they say that we should leave. They were with us when we took the city but didn’t bother to get out of their cars.”
Separately, ethnic tensions were already flaring. Smoke was rising on Friday from several Arab villages east of the town of Sinjar that had been occupied by the Islamic State. Trucks full of looted furniture could be seen driving north, possessions taken from the villages that appear to have been set on fire.
“They took our possessions, now we are going to take theirs!” said one Yazidi man, who was driving a red pickup truck laden with a wooden wardrobe and metal sheeting.
A day after seizing Highway 47, a critical east-west road that runs on both sides of Sinjar, the push into the city began Friday morning.
The Kurdish task force east of the city, known as the Zeravani Force and led by Maj. Gen. Aziz Waisi, began removing the dirt barriers they had put up for protection on the highway overnight. And then it was a race to the city, under clear skies that allowed another day of heavy American airstrikes in support.
As the convoy reached the city’s outskirts, many of the vehicles painted with special orange markings to identify them for American warplanes, the howl of an A-10 attack jet filled the air as it swooped low over the city.
General Waisi’s initial objective was a traffic circle east of the city. As the pesh merga approached the circle, they passed a mannequin dressed in a uniform — a marker the Kurds used to identify the previous line of advance for their comrades.
The results of American airstrikes to uproot Islamic State fighters ahead of the ground assault — more than 30 of them on Thursday — were apparent all around. Many houses and buildings were severely damaged, and entire blocks had turned into a field of debris.
But the Kurds still described some pockets of danger, either from a few remaining Islamic State fighters or the traps they had left behind.
Shawkat Abdullah Haji, a private who had belts of ammunition draped around his neck, said he had been moving through Sinjar’s streets since 9 a.m. He warned a visitor not to head north, into the heart of the city, because it was “not clear” yet.
As Kurdish combat engineers fanned out to clear a road south of the city of improvised explosive devices, the whistle of an incoming Islamic State mortar round could be heard. It fell short.As Kurdish combat engineers fanned out to clear a road south of the city of improvised explosive devices, the whistle of an incoming Islamic State mortar round could be heard. It fell short.
An amalgam of Kurdish and Yazidi forces joined in the assault, many of them flying separate flags. There were members of the Kurdish group Zeravani Force, led by Maj. Gen. Aziz Waisi, and Yazidi members of the Kurdish-led pesh merga. But fighters from an independent Yazidi militia led by Heydar Shesho also joined in the fight, as did the Y.P.G.
The attack from the east began Friday morning when General Waisi’s fighters took down a large dirt wall they had erected across Highway 47, which the fighters had seized a day earlier. The pesh merga fighters had put up the barrier on Thursday after they seized a stretch of the road to protect against car bomb attacks by the Islamic State.
On Friday morning, however, it was the Kurds who were determined to advance. A large bulldozer with improvised armor bolted around the driver’s cab arrived to remove the barrier of earth.
A stream of Kurdish vehicles then raced toward the city. The columns included several armored personnel carriers and Humvees, as well as sport utility vehicles and light trucks with machine guns bolted on the back.
Many of the vehicles carried special orange markings to identify them for American warplanes.
The sky was azure as the attack began, an encouraging sign for the Kurds who have depended heavily on American airstrikes to give them an edge over Islamic State fighters. No sound appeared more welcome to the pesh merga than the roar of an A-10 warplane as it circled over the city before diving low on a strafing run.
General Waisi’s initial objective was a traffic circle east of the city. As the pesh merga approached the circle, they passed a mannequin dressed in a uniform, a marker the Kurds used to identify the previous line of advance for their comrades.
After reaching the traffic circle, they pressed on. For weeks, American warplanes had been trying to soften up the Islamic State for the impending Kurdish offensive. On Thursday, there were at least 30 strikes.
The results were clear. Many houses and buildings were severely damaged, and entire blocks had turned into a field of debris.
According to one Yazidi fighter, several of his fellow fighters were killed when they went to check on their homes in a nearby village.According to one Yazidi fighter, several of his fellow fighters were killed when they went to check on their homes in a nearby village.
But that did not stop one group of happy Yazidis from doing the same, driving east on Highway 47 to spy from a safe distance on the homes on the outskirts of Sinjar they hope to return to. After looking longingly from their vehicles for a few moments, they turned around and sped away. But that did not stop one group of happy Yazidis from doing the same, driving east on Highway 47 to spy from a safe distance on the homes on the outskirts of Sinjar they hope to return to. After looking longingly at the houses for a few moments, they turned around and sped away.
A German filmmaker who was embedded on the front line with the P.K.K. fighters, entering from the west, said they faced almost no fight from the Islamic State. In some parts of Sinjar, fighters reported little resistance from jihadists from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh.
“There was no resistance — I mean zero,” said the filmmaker, Carsten Stormer. Carsten Stormer, a German documentary filmmaker who was traveling with the P.K.K. fighters, entering from the west, said they faced almost no fight.
“We ran down the hill, like in a raid, and the whole time I saw just one dead Daesh fighter,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. In his section of the fighting, he said, the P.K.K. arrived first, and then the pesh merga. “We ran down the hill, like in a raid, and the whole time I saw just one dead Daesh fighter,” he said. In his section of the fighting, he said, the P.K.K. arrived first, and then the pesh merga.
In the hours before the taking of the city, P.K.K. and pesh merga officials said, they intercepted radio traffic from the Islamic State fighters suggesting that their forces were deserting. They said they had heard the voice of an Islamic State leader berating his fighters, warning that deserters would be beheaded.In the hours before the taking of the city, P.K.K. and pesh merga officials said, they intercepted radio traffic from the Islamic State fighters suggesting that their forces were deserting. They said they had heard the voice of an Islamic State leader berating his fighters, warning that deserters would be beheaded.
The military leader of the P.K.K., who goes by the nom de guerre Agit Kalari, said his forces had taken back the Sinjar mayor’s office, other administrative offices, a major grain silo and the general hospital, as well as several neighborhoods inside the city.The military leader of the P.K.K., who goes by the nom de guerre Agit Kalari, said his forces had taken back the Sinjar mayor’s office, other administrative offices, a major grain silo and the general hospital, as well as several neighborhoods inside the city.
“At 6 a.m. we were in Sinjar,” he said inside a room fortified with sandbags, on the first line of defense inside the city. “We went in four hours before the pesh merga. After we liberated the city, the pesh merga drove up, inside their Toyota Hiluxes.” “At 6 a.m. we were in Sinjar,” he said inside a room fortified with sandbags, on the first line of defense inside the city. “We went in four hours before the pesh merga. After we liberated the city, the pesh merga drove up, inside their Toyota HiLuxes.”
Within Sinjar, the rivalry between the pesh merga and the P.K.K. fighters was apparent in a war of flags as the different groups advanced.
In a neighborhood in the northern portion of Sinjar, the yellow flag bearing the portrait of the P.K.K. founder, Abdullah Ocalan, flapped in the wind less than a hundred yards from a pesh merga banner.
At the grain silo in the city center, Mr. Stormer described how P.K.K. fighters climbed to the roof and unfurled their yellow banner, affixing it so that it ran down the side of the multistory building.
Sometime after, Mr. Stormer said the pesh merga arrived in a convoy. They unloaded an enormous flag, which he said was so heavy it took more than two dozen men to carry. The flag exactly matched the façade of the silo, including its length, which spanned around 200 yards.
“I see like 30 people carrying this long sausage,” the filmmaker said. “They suddenly rolled out this enormous flag. So big I can’t even begin to estimate its size. It covered the whole silo.”
A tense standoff ensued as the pesh merga attempted to unfurl their banner, while the P.K.K. refused to take theirs down. Eventually the P.K.K. ceded — one fighter said their commander had decided to take down the to keep the peace, even though they had gotten there first.