November 2015 Sinjar Offensive
The November Sinjar offensive was a combination of operations of Kurdish Peshmerga, PKK, and Yezidi militias in November 2015, to recapture the city of Sinjar from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Kurdish forces, who expelled the ISIL militants from Sinjar and regained control of Highway 47, which until then had served as the major supply route between the ISIL strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul. The offensive was code-named "The Fury of Melek Taus", in reference to Melek Taus, a figure from Yezidi religion. Background In August 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launched an offensive in Northern Iraq and pushed into Kurdish held areas of Nineveh Governorate, capturing the city of Sinjar, among others. In what is known as the Sinjar massacre, 2,000–5,000 Yazidis were killed in and around Sinjar, while 200,000 civilians fled. Amongst these, some 50,000 Yazidis fled to the Sinjar Mountains, located to the city's ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017)
Iraqi civil war may refer to: * Iraqi–Kurdish conflict (1918–2003), wars and rebellions by Iraqi Kurds against the government ** First Iraqi–Kurdish War (1961–70) ** Second Iraqi–Kurdish War (1974–75) * 1991 Iraqi uprisings, rebellions in Iraq during a ceasefire in the Gulf War * Iraqi Kurdish Civil War (1994–97), a conflict between rival Kurdish factions in Iraqi Kurdistan * Iraqi conflict (2003–present). See also: **Iraq War (2003–11), a war that began with the U.S. invasion of Iraq ***Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011) *** Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011) *** Iraqi Civil War (2006–2008), a civil war between Sunni and Shia militias including the Iraqi government and Al-Qaeda in Iraq (now known as ISIL) ** Iraqi insurgency (2011–2013), an escalation of insurgent and sectarian violence after the U.S. withdrew ** War in Iraq (2013–2017) The War in Iraq was an armed conflict between Iraq and its allies and the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) wh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Murat Karayılan
Murat Karayılan ( ku, Mirad Qarayîlan) (born 1954),Murat Karayılan yakalandı mı? 13 August 2011 also nicknamed Cemal, is one of the co-founders of the . He has been the organization PKK's acting leader since its original founder and leader, , was captured in 1999 by Turkish intelligence agents. On 2014, he left the PKK leader position and was assigned as the new commander-in-chief of the PKK's armed wing, the [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Special Forces (United States Army)
The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counterinsurgency, special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, information operations, counterproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and security force assistance. The unit emphasizes language, cultural, and training skills in working with foreign troops; recruits are required to learn a foreign language as part of their training and must maintain knowledge of the political, economic, and cultural complexities of the regions in which they are deployed. Other Special Forces missions, known as secondary missions, include combat search and rescue (CSAR), counter-narcotics, hostage rescue, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, information o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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USA - Special Forces Branch Insignia
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-America ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Women's Protection Units
(YPJ) ar, وحدات حماية المرأة , image = File:YPJ Flag.svg , caption = Flag of the YPJ , dates = April 2013–present , commander1 = Nesrin Abdullah , commander1_label = General Commander , commander2 = Meryem Kobanî , commander2_label = Kobanî commander , commander3 = Sewsen Bîrhat , commander3_label = Aleppo commander , allegiance = Kurdish Supreme Committee (2013) (2013–present) Democratic Union Party (2013–present) , commander4 = Rojda Felat , commander4_label = Leading commander for Raqqa operations , type = Light infantry (militia) , branch = Female service units , size = 24,000 , command_structure = Syrian Democratic Forces (since 2015 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostly consists of ethnic Kurds, but also includes Arabs and foreign volunteers; it is closely allied to the Syriac Military Council, an Assyrian militia. The YPG was formed in 2011. It expanded rapidly in the Syrian Civil War and came to predominate over other armed Syrian Kurdish groups. A sister militia, the Women's Protection Units (YPJ), fights alongside them. The YPG is active in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava), particularly in its Kurdish regions. In early 2015, the group won a major victory over the so-called Islamic State (IS) during the siege of Kobanî, where the YPG began to receive air and ground support from the United States and other Combined Joint Task For ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (Turkey)
The Marxist–Leninist Communist Party ( tr, Marksist-Leninist Komünist Partisi, abbreviated as ''MLKP'') is an underground Hoxhaist communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1994, and has been involved in the Rojava conflict since 2012. History MLKP was formed in September 1994, through the unification of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist - Hareketi (TKP/ML-Hareketi) and the Communist Workers Movement of Turkey (TKİH). TKP/ML-Hareketi was the larger of the two. Both groups came from the pro- Albanian camp. The unity process of negotiations between the groups had started in 1989. Initially MLKP called itself MLKP-Kuruluş (MLKP-Foundation). In September 1995, at the first congress of MLKP-K, the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (New Build-Up Organization) (TKP/ML (YİÖ)) merged into the party, and the name was changed to MLKP. Later the same year a split occurred, and the Communist Party - Build-up Organization (KP-İÖ) was formed. MLKP is desig ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Free Women's Units
The Free Women's Units ( Kurdish: Yekîneyên Jinên Azad ên Star), shortened from the Kurdish name as YJA STAR, is the women's military wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). YJA STAR operates according to jineology, the feminist philosophy developed by the Kurdish ideological leader, Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish and Kurdish for "uncle"), is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from ....Nordland, R. (2018). Women are free, and armed, in Kurdish-controlled Northern Syria. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/world/middleeast/syria-kurds-womens-rights-gender-equality.html on 10/9/2019 See also *'' Gulîstan, Land of Roses'', a 2016 documentary film about women PKK fighters References All-female military units and formations Apoist organizations in Turkey Anti-ISIL factions i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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People's Defence Forces
The People's Defence Forces ( ku, Hêzên Parastina Gel, HPG) is the military wing of the group Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). During the 7th Congress of the PKK in January 2000, the HPG replaced the former military wing of the PKK, the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan (''Artêşa Rizgariya Gelê Kurdistan'', ARGK). The replacement was intended to demonstrate the search for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, after the capture of Abdullah Öcalan in 1999. The HPG played an active in the peace negotiations between the Turkish Government and the PKK in 2013, as it hosted a delegation consisting of several politicians from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and members of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) and agreed to release soldiers of the Turkish army as well as a Turkish politician, who they held captive. In 2014, the HPG was involved in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Êzîdxan Women's Units
The Êzîdxan Women's Units ( ku, Yekinêyen Jinên Êzîdxan or YJÊ) is a Yazidi all-women militia formed in Iraq in 2015 to protect the Yazidi community in the wake of attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other Islamist groups that view Yazidis as pagan infidels. An offshoot of the mixed-gender Yazidi militia Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ), the YJÊ was founded on 5 January 2015 under the original name of Yekîneyên Parastina Jin ê Şengalê ( ku, Sinjar Women’s Protection Units, YJŞ), or YPJ-Sinjar. The militia adopted its current name on 26 October 2015. The organization follows imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's feminist Jineology, and with the broader concept of democratic confederalism as advocated by the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK). Activity In October 2015, the YJÊ participated in the foundation of the Sinjar Alliance as an all-Yezidi joint commando umbrella structure, along with the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ), the fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sinjar Resistance Units
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 population in 2013 was estimated at 88,023, and is predominantly Yazidi. History Antiquity In the 2nd century AD, Sinjar became a military base called Singara and part of the Roman ''limes''. It remained part of the Roman Empire until it was sacked by the Sasanians in 360. Starting in the late 5th century, the mountains around Sinjar became an abode of the Banu Taghlib, an Arab tribe. At the beginning of 6th century, a tribe called Qadišaiē (Kαδίσηνοι), who were of either Kurdish or Arab origin, dwelt there. The Qadišaye practiced idolatry. According to the early Islamic literary sources, Singara had long been a bone of contention between the Sasanian and Byzantine empires and several times switched hands between the two empir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Êzîdxan Protection Force
The Protection Force of Êzîdxan (HPÊ) (, ar, قوة حماية ايزيدخان), is a Kurdish Yazidi military force founded by Haydar Shesho in the summer of 2014 in respond to the Sinjar massacre. It was bigger than the other main Yazidi militia who took part in the liberation of Sinjar from Islamic State, the Sinjar Resistance Units, which is aligned with the PKK-backed Kurdistan Communities Union. The militia was known as the Protection Force of Sinjar or HPŞ ( ku, Hêza Parastina Şingal), also translated as Sinjar Defense Units or Sinjar Protection Force, until November 2015, when it changed its name to ''Hêza Parastina Êzîdxanê'' or HPÊ. Haydar Shesho was arrested on 5 April 2015 by the Kurdistan Democratic Party's Kurdistan Regional Government forces for "creating an illegitimate new militia." He was released a week later after it was negotiated that he would register with the KRG's Ministry of Peshmerga. He has been quoted as saying “We fight only for Yazidis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |