Iraqi troops ambushed a vehicle of Shengal Resistance Units (YBŞ) fighters in Shengal city center on the night of 18 March. According to a statement released by the YBŞ Command earlier today, five YBŞ fighters in the vehicle were taken prisoner by Iraqi soldiers and some of them were wounded.

In a statement condemning the attack, the Coordination of the Yazidi Community in Europe said: “There is nothing as absurd and ridiculous as an army, which abandoned the Yazidi people to the mercy of ISIS and fled and played a major role in the genocide, saying 'you need to disarm, we will defend and protect you' to the most victimized community under the name of security.”

The statement continued: “The Iraqi army, which abandoned all its weapons and fled the region immediately after the emergence of ISIS, caused the massacre of tens of thousands of people and the disordination of the state. It is a lie incompatible with the reality on the ground that the Iraqi army, which has not yet established dominance in the integrity of the country and has turned into a fragmented military organization, claims to 'ensure stability' in the Shengal region, the most victimized and oppressed of those lands.

It is nothing but a hostile orientation towards preventing the Yazidis from returning to their homeland, against the establishment of stability, against their autonomous and democratic administration and defense mechanism. The fact that the Iraqi army is trying to disarm the Yazidis at a time when an administration responsible for numerous massacres has come to power in Syria and poses the most dangerous risk to the Shengal region is also remarkable and something to think about.

The danger of a possible renewed genocide against the Yazidi people is growing. We call on the Iraqi state, the regional states and international powers to be sensitive and to take the necessary measures.

It has also become imperative for the Yazidi people to unite all security-defense forces in Shengal against possible dangers and attacks, to ensure social alliance, and to reorganize and unite by protecting our values wherever we are.”