The Sinjar offensive was a combination of operations of Kurdish

Peshmerga The Peshmerga ( ku, پێشمەرگه, Pêşmerge, lit=those who face death) is the Kurdish military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, the Peshmerga, along with their security subsidiaries, ...

PKK The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of sout ...

and

People's Protection Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly- Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democra ...

forces in December 2014, to recapture regions formerly lost to the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

in their August offensive. In a six-day-long offensive, the PKK and Peshmerga took control over part of the city of

Sinjar Sinjar ( ar, سنجار, Sinjār; ku, شنگال, translit=Şingal, syr, ܫܝܓܪ, Shingar) is a town in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located about five kilometers south of the Sinjar Mountains. Its p ...

and part of the mountains which had been conquered by ISIL in August 2014, and expanded their offensive on to

Tal Afar Tal Afar ( ar, تَلْعَفَر, Talʿafar, ) is a city in the Nineveh Governorate of northwestern Iraq, located 63 km (39 mi) west of Mosul, 52 km (32 mi) east of Sinjar Nineveh Governorate Nineveh Governorate ( ar, محافظة نينوى, syr, ܗܘܦܪܟܝܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ, Hoparkiya d’Ninwe, ckb, پارێزگای نەینەوا, Parêzgeha Neynewa), also known as Ninawa Governorate, is a governorate in northern Iraq. It has an ...

, capturing the city of

, among others. Some 50,000

Yazidis Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The ma ...

fled to and remained in the

Sinjar Mountains The Sinjar Mountains ( ku, چیایێ شنگالێ, translit=Çiyayê Şingalê, ar, جبل سنجار, translit=Jabal Sinjār, syr, ܛܘܪܐ ܕܫܝܓܪ, Ṭura d'Shingar,) are a mountain range that runs east to west, rising above the surroundi ...

, located to the city's north. By the end of August, the majority of those 50,000 Yazidis had left the mountains, although several thousands stayed there. ISIL held onto

city and the southern entrance of the Sinjar Mountains. On 21 October 2014, ISIL seized terrain north of the mountains, thus cutting the area's escape route to Kurdish areas. The Yazidi militias then withdrew from there into the Sinjar Mountains, where the number of Yazidi civilian refugees was estimated at 2,000–7,000. An American source called this new situation a partial ISIL "siege" of the mountain range.

Offensive

Peshmerga offensive

Sinjar area offensive

On 17 December 2014, at 7 AM (04.00 GMT),

forces, directed personally by Masoud Barzani, the President of

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...

, launched an offensive on the Sinjar area, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes that had started the night before. About 8,000 Peshmerga forces started advancing westward from

Zummar Zummar ( ar, زمار), also spelled Zemar or Zumar, is both the name of an Iraqi subdistrict located in north Nineveh Governorate and of its seat, the town of Zummar. The population is a mix of Arabs and Kurds, most of them work in agricultur ...

, which had been recaptured by the Peshmerga in October 2014. A total of 45 airstrikes had been conducted by the US-led Coalition by end of the day. The Peshmerga were supported with training and equipment by a British Army training team.

Breaking the 'partial siege' of Mount Sinjar

On 18 December, the Peshmerga advanced even farther and managed to recapture a total of 700 square kilometers of territory and open a corridor from Zummar to Mount Sinjar, thus breaking the 'partial siege' of those mountains. According to a statement from the Kurdish command, large numbers of ISIL militants were fleeing, westward into

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, and eastward into

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

. A total of 53 airstrikes had been carried out as of Thursday evening 18 December. According to the U.S. Pentagon, the airstrikes near Sinjar had targeted ISIL storage units, bulldozers, guard towers, vehicles, and three bridges. Kurdish officials said on 19 December that, so far, more than 100 ISIL militants had been killed in this Kurdish Sinjar offensive.

Rabia offensive and closing in on Tal Afar

On 19 December, one day after the retaking of Mount Sinjar, the Peshmerga launched a new offensive from the Rabia border crossing southward to Mount Sinjar. The new offensive was launched at 8 AM (05.00 GMT), with the aim of further clearing the area north of Mount Sinjar. Simultaneously, Peshmerga forces on Mount Sinjar started pushing northward and captured Snuny, located on the road to Rabia. As ISIL militants withdrew to

Tal Afar Tal Afar ( ar, تَلْعَفَر, Talʿafar, ) is a city in the Nineveh Governorate of northwestern Iraq, located 63 km (39 mi) west of Mosul, 52 km (32 mi) east of SinjarTurkmen city, located between Sinjar to Mosul and captured by ISIL in their June offensive — Kurdish officials said. On 19 December, Peshmerga were closing in on Tal Afar, firing artillery at ISIL positions nearby, residents reported.

Entering Sinjar, advance on Tal Afar stalled

Kurdish forces entered the city of Sinjar on the night of 20 December. The Kurdish advance on Tal Afar was stalled before 22 December, as Kurdish forces faced fierce resistance from ISIL militants inside the city of Sinjar. On 21 December, 1,500 Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, backed by local militia units, reportedly drove ISIL from the center of Sinjar. By this time, Kurdish forces had recaptured more than 500 square miles of mostly desert and highway. On the morning of 22 December, Peshmerga took control of much of Sinjar city. A few days after Kurdish forces entered Sinjar, a high-ranking Peshmerga commander said in an interview that the push into the town was premature, as retaking Sinjar was not planned to be carried out in this offensive. According to him, some of the Peshmerga entered Sinjar without orders to do so, after seeing ISIL militants on the run.

YPG offensive

The

Rojava The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, ...

's army, known as

(YPG), announced on 19 December that they were moving south towards the Iraqi border to reopen a corridor connecting Mount Sinjar to the Syrian border. The YPG had first opened that corridor in August 2014 to relieve tens of thousands of Yazidis stranded on Mount Sinjar. Two days later, the YPG said they had captured three villages on the Syrian side of the border and four villages on the Iraqi side, and that they had successfully reopened the corridor.

Aftermath

The Kurdish forces took control of a large area of the Sinjar mountains.

Mass graves

On the third day of the offensive, it was reported that a Yazidi mass grave containing 70 bodies had been found. According to Kurdish sources, nine Yazidi mass graves had been found by the end of the offensive. 18 Yazidi shrines have also been destroyed by ISIL militants since June 2014. Dozens of mass graves have been found.

ISIL execution of deserters

According to local residents, ISIL executed more than 45 of its own members during the offensive, for failing to stand their ground against the Kurdish forces. The

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , image = Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Logo.jpg , image_size = 200px , caption = The logo of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , type = NGO , founded_date = , founder ...

(SOHR) reported that ISIL had killed a total of 200 of its own fighters in December 2014, for fleeing the battlefield.‘ISIS Executes Own Fighters For Allegedly Texting Kurds To Surrender In Ongoing Islamic State Battle For Iraq’
. SOHR website, 21 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015 In March 2015, ISIL again executed 18 of its own fighters in northern Iraq, amid accusations that the men texted the Kurdish enemy and planned on surrendering, SOHR reported.

References

External links

Military map of the Sinjar offensive by Agathocle de Syracuse

Military map showing the situation in Sinjar city on 26 December by Agathocle de Syracuse

{{DEFAULTSORT:2014 12 Sinjar offensive Conflicts in 2014 Military operations of the Iraqi Civil War in 2014 Battles involving the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraqi Kurdistan Military operations of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) involving Australia Military operations of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) involving the Peshmerga Military operations of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) involving the People's Protection Units Military operations of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) involving the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Military operations of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) involving the United States 2014 in Iraqi Kurdistan Military operations of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) involving Canada Military operations of the War in Iraq (2013–2017) involving the PKK Persecution of Yazidis by ISIL