ANKARA
Kurdish Regional Government President Masoud Barzani made an announcement on Friday regarding the liberation of Sinjar Mountain, where Ezidis fleeing ISIL persecution had been taking refuge and which until Thursday had been under ISIL control.
Barzani said, “The operation to save our Ezidi brother’s homeland, Sinjar, has started. The territory between Zumar and Sinjar Mountain is under our control. The Peshmerga reached Mount Sinjar on the same day of the Ezidis' Fasting Feast. It has a special meaning. The defeat of ISIL militants should be an example to all of our enemies.”
According to Masrour Barzani, the chancellor of the Kurdistan Regional Security Council, Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters launched an operation on Thursday to rescue minorities who ran away from ISIL violence and reclaim the sieged town of Sinjar.
After the ISIL siege was broken on Mount Sinjar, the Peshmarga helped the nearly 10,000 displaced Ezidis.
Peshmerga commander and Kurdistan Democratic Party member Fazil Mirani said, “Our goal is to save Sinjar town. But in order to do that we need to capture all of the strategic points.”
He also said that the Peshmerga need heavy weaponry to proceed.
Nearly 100,000 Iraqi minorities took refuge in Mount Sinjar when Sinjar town was captured by ISIL forces in early August.
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