Kurdistan Region Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed says Baghdad integrated about 2,000 YBŞ fighters without consulting Erbil, breaching the 2020 Shingal Agreement, and warns it will not bring stability.

The Yazidi Shengal Resistance Units (YBS) are being formally integrated into the Iraqi army. The move comes amid wider developments towards the integration of Kurdish forces into state structures in Syria and the peace process between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Ankara in Turkey.

In contested Sinjar, Yazidi representatives are also calling for greater local self-government and political representation, arguing that the community must have a greater say in governing its historic homeland following the 2014 genocide. The YBS opposed the 2020 agreement between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) agreement, which sought to restructure security and administration in the region.

An official ceremony marking the momentYBS integration was held todayon October 26, overseen by the Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Ali al-Zaidi. “Loyalty to the martyrs is […] to protect what they were martyred for,” the YBS command stated at the ceremony. “The most successful thing against genocide is for our people to remain alive, free, safe […] on their own land.”

Sabah al-Numan, spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, also released a statement declaring that the YBS will be integrated into the official Iraqi security apparatus, meaning that security responsibility for Mount Sinjar would be formally transferred to the federal authorities. Al-Numan further stressed the responsibility of the federal government to protect the Yazidi community.

YBS members will fold into numerous Iraqi security institutions, including the police, according to Yazidi MP Murad Ismail, who refuted earlier comments from al-Zaidi suggesting the YBS would be integrated only into the predominantly Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

In Sinjar, the impact of the integration will be measured in the long run, in terms of whether security can be maintained, the Yazidi community have the safety and resources to re-build their historic homeland region, and the YBS fighters remain part of the Iraqi institutions. Whether this arrangement genuinely protects Yazidi autonomy and security will depend on how it works in practice – and on the parallel efforts of Yazidi political actors to advocate for their community in relation to Baghdad.

https://x.com/vvanwilgenburg/status/2114657505036898667

MP Murad Ismael says YBS fighters will join several Iraqi security bodies, including the police, not only the PMF. PM Ali al-Zaidi had described it as a PMF absorption.

The Swarê Gêdûkê shrine feast in Shengal's Bara village was celebrated en masse for the first time since the 2014 genocide. ISIS had blown up the shrine, and it was rebuilt in 2018.

Hadi Elias, the YBŞ spokesperson, on Monday said negotiations with senior Iraqi security and military officials began in February 2026, aiming to reach an agreement on reorganizing the group and integrating it into Iraq’s state system.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Iraqi officials; PKK disarmament and the future of Shingal were on the agenda.

Yerevan Radio has broadcast in Kurdish for about 80 years. For the past decade it has also run a separate "Yezidi-language" service, and its own director can't explain why.

"It is no coincidence that the Quba Mêrê Dîwanê, the world’s largest Yazidi temple, is in Armenia. Located in the village of Aknalich, 30 kilometers west of Yerevan in the Armavir province, the site was inaugurated on September 29, 2019."

"September 29 has become a special date for the Yazidi faith. The temple became the spiritual epicenter where the monotheistic diaspora gathers every year. Pilgrims from Germany, Iraq, Georgia, Russia, America, and more merge with the local Armenians to pray, commemorate historical grievances, dance, and attend community rallies."

Kurdish-medium schools in Shingal say textbooks sent from the Kurdistan Region are being blocked. Arabic-medium pupils receive support while Kurdish pupils go without even books.

Hemoye Shero was a nineteenth century Yezidi tribal leader from the Shingal Mountains in what was the Ottoman Empire. Hemoye Shero was instrumental in transforming one of the Yezidi social classes, the faqirs, into a tribal entity and establishing himself as the chief.

During the Ottoman genocide of Armenians and Arameans, Yazidi leader Hemoye Shero saved over 20,000 Christians by hiding them in the Sinjar Mountains. Many Yazidi families also took in Christian children and reminded them of their roots. These acts created an unbreakable bond between Christians and Yazidis.

Thank you Ezidis/Yazidis :)

Iraq's Martyrs Foundation will hand over remains of Yazidi victims from Shingal on 30 September for burial on 1 October. Remains of 13 Badush prison massacre victims will follow.

12 years have passed since ISIS launched its genocide against the Yazidi people. More than 2,500 Yazidis are still missing. Thousands remain displaced. Mass graves are still being discovered. Survivors still carry the trauma.

And after more than a decade, there has been almost zero real accountability from the Islamist environment that produced ISIS.

No serious public admission of collective failure. No formal, unambiguous apology.

The Saudi and Gulf sheikhs who spent years promoting ISIS ideology are still platformed and still promoting their ideology. Iraqi Sunni sheikhs mostly stayed quiet or issued the weak possible statements. Syrian and Iraqi tribes that collaborated, looted, joined the massacres, have never issued collective apologies or faced any real reckoning.

In Syria, the current dictator Ahmed al-Sharaa (Julani) a man with a documented terrorist history in al-Qaeda and ISIS has shown zero interest in confronting that legacy. Instead he said he's proud of his history.

Nadia Murad and other survivors are still traveling the world asking for justice and the return of the missing. The standard response they get is “ISIS doesn’t represent Islam” or “that’s Islamophobic.” Protecting the reputation of the ideology matters more than the blood of the people it enslaved and murdered by it.

Islamic mainstream media, especially Al Jazeera, barely touches the subject. When it does, the framing is usually defensive.

So what does it mean to live in an environment that remains largely hostile and unapologetic? Is it Islamic arrogance and supremacism that refuses to treat non-Muslim blood as equally valuable?

Yazidi communities in Shengal celebrated the ancient festivals of Ezi and Sheshims with large public gatherings, marking the religious and cultural significance of these centuries-old traditions.

DNA identification confirmed the remains of 25 more Yazidi victims of the 2014 ISIS genocide; families received the remains for burial after years of uncertainty and searching.