Kurdish forces liberated Shengal from ISIS gangs
by Roni Alasor / Lorin Sarkisian
Brussels, 14 November 2015 - Middle East Diplomatic (MED) - Kurdish forces, including Peshmergas, Ezidis and also PKK fighters, with the support of US airstrikes, definitely liberated the Kurdish city of Sinjar (Shengal, in Kurdistan Region in Iraq). The last ISIS jihadists were cleared out from the town, which they had brutally dominated for more than one year.
According the Office of the Chancellor Masrour Barzani, Head of Kurdistan Region Security Councin, operation Free Sinjar supervised by President Masoud Barzani and supported by the International Coalition, concluded at approximately 1500hrs on 13 November 2015 as Peshmerga forces successfully reached Sinjar town.
In the course of the two-day operation, 28 villages were retaken from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL); more than 300 terrorists were killed by Peshmerga forces and Coalition warplanes, and over 200 square kilometres were cleared and returned to the Kurdistan Region.
The Kurdish victory in Sinjar not only liberated the city, but also cut a key supply line connecting jihadist-held areas in Iraq with those in Syria.
The head of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), President Masoud Barzani, held a news conference on Mount Sinjar to welcome the retaking of the town as part of the Kurdistan Region.
The reconstruction and development of Sinjar and delivery of public services is announced as top priority by Kurdistan Regional Government, which calls on the international community to help rebuild the devastated area.
Shengal, which was populated by Yezidi Kurds for several thousands of years, has been destroyed after the ISIS attack in August 2014 when the entire population had to flee enslavement and massacre at the hands of the Islamic State.