Sinjar District

History

Sinjar District was created in 1934 by Royal decree. After the 1935 Yazidi revolt, the district was placed under military control.

The al-Shamal district, originally formed in 1936, was abolished in 1987, and its area was added to Sinjar. Qayrawan was formed as a district in 1977, was also abolished in 1987, and was added to the district. In 1994, al-Shamal and Qayrawan were reformed as a sub-districts.

In 2007, several explosions set off by ISI killed hundreds of Yazidis in Shengal.

In August 2014, the Siege of Mount Sinjar raged between Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Kurdish Peshmerga, leading to a mass exodus of residents, especially from the Yazidi community, branded by the Islamic State as "devil worshippers", after the Peshmerga was defeated. The New York Times reported that ISIL killed dozens of Yazidi men and forced their women to marry jihadi fighters." According to Iraqi MP Vian Dakhil, an estimated 6,383 Yazidi women and children were taken as sex slaves by ISIS/ISIL.

According to Kurdish sources, nine Yazidi mass graves had been found by the end of the offensive. Eighteen Yazidi shrines have also been destroyed by ISIS militants since June 2014. As additional graves were found, masked Yazidis retaliated against assumed ISIL collaborators in four Muslim villages in late January 2015 with Sibaya and Chiri attacked on January 25 and Khazuga and Sayer on January 26. PKK, YPG and YPJ joint forces were able to stop additional attacks on two more villages after Peshmerga fled the area.

It was announced on October 17, 2017, that the area had returned to Iraqi government control.

Geography

The Sinjar District borders and is a crossing point with Syria. The district is 136 km from Mosul city, the capital of the Nineveh Governorate. The Sinjar Mountains are located in the district.

Economy

The district's economy is primarily based on agriculture with the main crops being barley, figs, wheat, and tobacco. In the villages of Ain al-Ghazal and Hayali exist oil fields, which were closed because of the Iraq war. Natural gas and heavy minerals exist in the Sinjar Mountains.

Settlements

• Ain al-Ghazal, Sunni
• Bahrava, Yezidi
• Bare, Yezidi
• Borek, Yezidi
• Chiri Yezidi
• Dohula, Yezidi
• Duguri, Yezidi
• Gir Azêr (also Til Ezer), Yezidi
• Gohbal, Yezidi
• Hayali Yezidi
• Khana Sor, Yezidi
• Khazuga, Sunni
• Majnuniyê, Yezidi
• Qayrawan or Qairouan, also called Balij or Bulayj, Sunni
• Sayer, Sunni
• Sîba Şêx Xidir, Yezidi
• Shingal, Yezidi, seat of the district
• Sinone (also Sinuni), Yezidi, seat of Al-Shamal subdistrict
• Sibaya, Sunni
• Solagh, Yezidi
• Wardiyê/Zirafki, Yezidi
• Zorava, Yezidi
• Hardan, Yezidi

others:

• Adîke ئادیکە
• Dihil
• Kersê کەرسێ
• Koço
• Rifeyi
• Sinun
• Gura / Isdêra Şimalê
• Telezêr
• Tel Qeseb
• Tel Benat
• Qabusî
• Xalabazar

References

References

1. (2011). "Şingal: wek qutabxana sitrana filklorî ya Kurdî".
2. "Şingal ... شنگال". sverigesradio.se.
3. (December 2007). "Report on the Administrative Changes in Kirkuk and the Disputed Regions". Kurdistan Regional Government.
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121114031748/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA405080 Article title]
5. Fuccaro, Nelinda. [https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/164402?uid=3738240&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=47698848165747 ''Ethnicity, State Formation, and Conscription in Postcolonial Iraq: The Case of the Yazidi Kurds of Jabal Sinjar'']. International Journal of Middle East Studies Vol. 29, No. 4 (November 1997), pp. 559–580.
6. (August 7, 2014). "Islamic State accused of capturing Yazidi women and forcing them to convert, or else". Washington Post.
7. Loveday Morris. (3 August 2014). "Islamic State seizes town of Sinjar, pushing out Kurds and sending Yazidis fleeing". WP website.
8. [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/isis-forces-in-iraq.html?_r=0, Jihadists Rout Kurds in North and Seize Strategic Iraqi Dam]. By Tim Arango. August 7, 2014
9. Otten, Cathy. (25 July 2017). "Slaves of Isis: the long walk of the Yazidi women". The Guardian.
10. (22 December 2014). "Yazidi women tell of sex-slavery trauma". BBC.
11. (24 June 2019). "'I don't want to be considered as an ex-slave or just a survivor'". Al Jazeera.
12. "Nine mass graves of Iraq's Yezidis found in Sinjar, official says". DPA News.
13. (February 10, 2015). "Iraqi Yazidis take revenge as Islamic State atrocities unearthed". Reuters.
14. "Ezidi Peshmerga, Hashd al-Shaabi agree to peacefully hand over Shingal".
15. (December 2007). "Report on the Administrative Changes in Kirkuk and the Disputed Regions". Kurdistan Regional Government.