Turkey strikes Yazidi militia in Iraq
The Sinjar Resistance Units is a member of the Popular Mobilization Units, making it officially part of the Iraqi security forces.
Turkey killed a Yazidi commander in Iraq today.
Marwan Badal, who commands the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), was killed in a Turkish airstrike in Sinjar in western Iraq. The attack was carried out on his vehicle via an armed drone. Badal’s two sons were with him at the time and survived the attack, according to Kurdish media outlets.
The YBS is comprised of members of the Yazidi ethno-religious community, and Sinjar is a predominantly Yazidi area. Various armed groups operate in Sinjar, including affiliates of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), as well as the Kurdistan Region’s peshmerga security forces. The preponderance of armed groups is one reason pushing Yazidis to leave Iraq.
Sinjar is technically administered by the federal Iraqi government but is also claimed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The peshmerga defeated the Islamic State there in 2015, and the area became governed by the KRG. In 2017, the federal government resumed control.
