Yazidis in northern Iraq need security and stability to return to their homeland of Sinjar but that appears more difficult as the region has witnessed an escalation of tension due to clashes between the Iraqi military and PKK terrorists in recent weeks.

Iraqi police officer Jundi Khodr Kalo was among the thousands of Yazidis once again forced to flee their homes this month, after fierce clashes between the army and local fighters in their Sinjar heartland.

"Last time we were displaced because we were afraid of the Daesh," said Kalo, 37, from the non-Arab, Kurdish-speaking minority.

The Yazidis are a monotheistic, esoteric community who were massacred by Daesh when the extremists swept across Iraq in 2014.

Two days of fighting broke out on May 1 in northern Iraq's Sinjar region between the army and PKK terrorists.

A local official said the violence forced more than 1,700 families, or over 10,200 people, to flee.

Some 960 families have settled in a displacement camp in the neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), while others have sought shelter with relatives, according to the United Nations.

Kalo, his wife and their five children took refuge in the crowded Chamisku camp, home to more than 22,000 people, near the city of Zakho.

Like many Yazidis, the Kalo family suffered long years of displacement after Daesh overran swathes of their country.

"We lived in a camp for six years," he said, only returned to their home village two years ago.

Going back "was not easy... but we managed to get by."

"But lately, the situation got worse," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Sinjar is the site of sporadic skirmishes between Iraqi security forces and the Sinjar Resistance Units, local fighters allied with the PKK terrorists.

"Every day we would hear the sound of shooting and explosions. We were afraid for our families," Kalo said.

But life in Chamisku, like in other camps, is tough, too.

Residents take shelter in tarpaulin tents, where foam mattresses line the ground.

AFP journalists saw dozens of people queueing for handouts of rice, tea, sugar, flour and milk.

"The situation in these camps is crowded," said Firas al-Khateeb, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

He cited "a risk of limited access to basic services due to a reduction of humanitarian funding."

Living in displacement camps "for long periods of time is not an ideal situation," he added.

"But any return (home) must be voluntary, maintain human dignity," and be to a "peaceful environment," al-Khateeb said.

Need security, stability

Iraqi authorities say calm has returned to Sinjar following the fighting, which killed an Iraqi soldier.

Each side has blamed the other for starting the clashes in the region, the scene of simmering tensions and multiple actors.

The army is seeking to apply an agreement between Baghdad and the KRG for the withdrawal of Yazidi and PKK combatants.

The deal is seen as crucial for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which has been looking to restore its former influence in Sinjar.

It is also key to facilitating the return of Yazidis displaced years ago by Daesh.

But the Yazidi fighters, who are affiliated with the Hashed al-Shaabi, a pro-Iran former paramilitary organization, accuse the army of trying to take control of their stronghold.

Amid increasing clashes with the PKK terrorist group in the Sinjar district of Iraq's Mosul province, the Iraqi military launched a large-scale operation for the first time since the 2020 Sinjar Agreement, with one of the main objectives being the elimination of PKK terrorists.

Iraq recently conducted a military operation to clear the region of PKK terrorists in response to the group's increasing terror attacks.

Last week, heavy fighting erupted between the Iraqi army and the PKK-affiliated Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ).

Despite sporadic clashes between the army and the YBŞ in recent months, there were no decisive moves taken before to implement the 2020 deal.

The presence of PKK terrorists in Sinjar causes a security threat for the civilians in the region.

Displaced Yazidis want peace and stability to be restored in the area so they can return after spending eight years in refugee camps.

Although an agreement was signed between the Iraqi government and northern Iraq's KRG on Oct. 9, 2020, the terrorist organization had stepped up its activities.

The PKK continues its presence in the district as the Sinjar Agreement has not been fully implemented yet.

Iraqi security forces said military reinforcements were dispatched to Sinjar to "impose state authority."

"We will not allow the presence of armed groups," the forces said in a statement Thursday.

The Sinjar region has also been a target of Turkish airstrikes on the rear bases of the PKK, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization.

The KRG also has an uneasy relationship with the PKK terrorists, whose presence harms the stability and security in the region and complicates the region's trade ties with Turkey.

The PKK terrorist group often hides out in northern Iraq, just across Turkey's southern border, to plot terrorist attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq.

In such a complex and dangerous atmosphere, Yazidi civilians say they feel like collateral damage.

"We need security and stability, otherwise we will not go back to Sinjar," said laborer Zaeem Hassan Hamad.

The 65-year-old took refuge in Chamisku with more than a dozen family members, including his grandchildren.

Daesh forced him to flee once before, and he said he did not want to keep repeating that traumatic experience.

"We cannot go home and be displaced again," he said.

"If the Hashed, the PKK and the army remain in the region, the people will be afraid," he added.

"No one will ever go back."

Daesh terrorists attacked Sinjar, a region with a Yazidi-majority population, in August 2014. The terrorist group kidnapped and killed thousands of people, including women and children, or detained them in areas under its control. PKK terrorists managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in 2014 under the pretext of protecting the Yazidi community from Daesh terrorists.

The tension in the region increased after Baghdad announced on Oct. 9, 2020, a "historic deal" with northern Iraq's KRG to bolster the federal government's authority in Sinjar.

After the Daesh attack in 2014, most Yazidis had to leave their homes and flee to various parts of the country, including the KRG area. Some of the Yazidi victims also took refuge in Turkey. The PKK abducted and forcibly recruited Yazidi children in Sinjar. The Yazidi people held many protests for the release of their children kidnapped by the terrorist group. The recent clashes have seen Sinjar residents once again displaced from their homes.

Sinjar is in a strategic position some 120 kilometers (74 miles) from Mosul and close to the Turkish-Syrian border. The terrorist group aims to create a terror corridor between the YPG/PKK in northern Syria and Iraq's northern Qandil region.