Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called to promote stability in Sinjar to prevent terrorists from taking control of the area amid clashes between Iraqi security forces and PKK terrorists that have displaced thousands of Yazidi residents.
Al-Kadhimi met with a group of Yazidis in the capital Baghdad to discuss the requirements for establishing stability in Sinjar.
The meeting came a week after an Iraqi soldier was killed and two others were injured in clashes with a PKK-affiliated militia in Sinjar.
"It's important to boost stability and restore economic activity in the area to deny terrorists the opportunity" to have a foothold, the Iraqi premier said.
Sinjar was captured by the Daesh terrorist group in 2014 and the PKK terrorist group managed to establish a foothold in the area in 2015.
In 2017, Iraq declared victory over Daesh by reclaiming all territories the terror group controlled since the summer of 2014, estimated to be about one-third of the country's territory.
In October 2020, the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq signed an agreement to preserve security in Sinjar with Iraqi federal security forces working in coordination with KRG Peshmerga forces.
More than 10,000 people have fled fighting between the Iraqi army and Yazidi fighters affiliated with the PKK in the latest wave of clashes.
The Sinjar region has also been the target of Turkish airstrikes aimed at the PKK's rear bases. The KRG 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.
Amid increasing clashes with the PKK terror group in the Sinjar district of the Mosul province, the Iraqi military has 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 has recently conducted a military operation to clear the region of PKK terrorists in response to the group's increasing terror attacks.
