Islamist violence in Syria

After troops of the new Islamist regime in Syria took control of large parts of northeastern Syria, the Kurds and other minorities living there are not the only ones facing a deadly threat. Yazidis in the neighboring Sinjar region (Shingal) in northwestern Iraq are also at risk, warns the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP).

“In telephone conversations with Yazidis from the region, they repeatedly expressed their concern about possible attacks by Sunni Islamists. The Yazidis are very afraid because their community was already the victim of genocide by ISIS in 2014,” reported Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East expert, today in Göttingen.

Leaders and members of many Arab Sunni tribes who sympathized with the “Islamic State” (IS) in 2014 or even supported it in its attacks on the Yazidi community are considered the spearhead of the new Islamist government in Syria in the current attacks on Kurds in Syria. About 75 percent of the troops of the new Islamist regime in Damascus are former IS members, al-Qaeda fighters, or other radical Sunni Islamists. In addition, thousands of IS fighters were able to escape from prisons in northeastern Syria or were released by the new Syrian regime.

“Will these radical Arab Sunni Islamists invade the Sinjar region again? Will the Iraqi army, together with other competing local forces, be able to withstand large-scale attacks by Sunni Islamists? In view of current developments, many Yazidis fear that history will repeat itself,” says Sido, STP's Middle East consultant.

“Neither NATO nor the US seem willing to protect the Yezidi population, as they apparently see Arab Sunni Islamists, especially the new regime in Damascus, as their best allies,” said Sido. “Many Yazidis and members of other minorities are outraged that the Trump administration, many German politicians, and the media are downplaying the Sunni Islamists who have taken power in Syria, sympathizing with them, or even supporting them,” says the human rights activist, who last visited the Sinjar region in 2023 and is in constant contact with the local people.

Almost exactly two years ago, on January 19, 2023, the German Bundestag recognized the crimes committed by ISIS against the Yazidis as genocide. “We call on the members of parliament who campaigned for recognition at the time to stand by the Yazidis and other minorities,” says Sido.

Supported by numerous Sunni tribes, IS attacked the Yazidi community in Sinjar in northern Iraq in August 2014 with the aim of wiping them out. At least 5,000 people were murdered. In addition, around 7,000 women and girls were abducted into slavery. 2,000 of them are still missing today. Hundreds of thousands of Yazidis were forced to flee. According to estimates by the STP, around 200,000 Yazidis who survived the genocide have returned to their homeland, the Sinjar region. Around 300,000 more Yazidis from Sinjar still live in Iraqi Kurdistan, where they found refuge from IS in 2014.

This press release was translated from German to English using AI. If you come across errors or ambiguities, please contact us at presse@gfbv.de.