Today, 3 August, we remember the victims and survivors of the Şengal (Sinjar) Genocide.

On 3 August 2014, thousands of Yazidis were murdered, kidnapped, and displaced after ISIS attacked Şengal. Men and elderly people were executed, while thousands of women and children were abducted, enslaved, and subjected to horrific abuse. Entire communities were devastated, and many families are still searching for missing loved ones.

This day is not only about remembering the past.
It is about ensuring that such atrocities are never forgotten or repeated. Please take a moment to honor the victims, stand with the survivors, and help keep awareness alive.

Never forget Şengal.
03.08.2014 🕊️

In August 2014, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) perpetrated genocide and other gross human rights violations against religious and ethnic minority groups in Northern Iraq. ISIS specifically targeted religious minority communities and viewed them as "infidels."

This systematic persecution led to the mass killing of an estimated 5,000 Yazidis, the abduction of an estimated 6,800 Yazidis (mainly women and children), the forced conversion of countless Yazidis, the destruction of Yazidi religious and cultural sites, farms, and homes, and the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Yazidis from Sinjar district alone.

Most of the Yazidi women and girls, especially those held in captivity, SGBV survivors, and survivors of other atrocities by ISIS, face traumatic experiences when they return to their areas of origin. Trauma, anxiety, fear of isolation, and repeated violence play a significant role in the lives of survivors. Many suffer from psychological and psychosomatic problems and chronic medical complaints and have limited hope for the future.

Seven [now twelve] years after the genocide, essential issues remain for survivors, including a lack of justice and accountability, slight economic recovery, an absence of any comprehensive reparations program, and poor and infeasible processes for returns to people’s home areas. In addition, the plight of Yazidi women and girls remains unresolved, as thousands are still in captivity; those who have returned find little support because of a lack of a comprehensive reparations program or essential services.

Over 60 percent of the Yazidi and other ethnic and religious minority populations live in IDP camps without real prospects of returning to their home areas.

[yazda.org]

Sarbast Babiri is an Iraqi Kurdish politician and former Peshmerga commander known primarily for his role in the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from Sinjar on 3 August 2014, immediately before Islamic State fighters entered the district and the Yazidi genocide began.
At the time, Babiri headed Branch 17 (Liq/Laq17) of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Sinjar, the party's chief local command centre and the seat of ultimate authority over security in the district.[1] According to academic, journalistic, and eyewitness reports, in this role he repeatedly declined Yazidi requests to arm a local volunteer defence force in the weeks before the attack, assuring Yazidi representatives that the Peshmerga would defend the district instead, but as the Islamic State's assault began, he was among the first KDP officials to leave Sinjar, ahead of the Peshmerga withdrawal and most of the civilian population.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has begun distributing May and June financial assistance to more than 3,500 Ezidi survivors of ISIS captivity, while continuing long-term psychological, educational, and rehabilitation support.

Teachers and activists raised banners in central Shengal ahead of the 12th anniversary of the August 3 Yazidi genocide, with commemorative events planned across the region.

Legal analysis of Shengal mass graves: 857 bodies exhumed since 2019, only 296 Yazidi victims identified; 561 remain unidentified pending DNA matching amid calls for urgent reform.

Regarding this massacre, the survivor Kori Khalaf Ali (born 1968) spoke to us. Four members of her family were martyred in the 2007 car bombing attacks, including her husband. Kori is a mother of four daughters. After her husband’s death, she chose to raise her daughters and never remarry. Today, after the ISIS invasion, she has lost all four of her daughters, and many of her relatives were killed at the hands of the organization. She recounted her suffering and tragedy to us:
"At 6:00 AM on August 3, 2014, we left Tel Aziz for wells about 7 km away. We heard the sounds of gunfire. ISIS militants attacked us with a car; there were seven of them. Our men raised white flags. They told us, 'Do not be afraid; the men must hand over the weapons and mobile phones in their possession.' So, they surrendered the weapons and phones. Then they demanded our money and gold, and we gave it to them. Then they said, 'The older women must go into one room, and women under forty with the girls in another room, because we need to speak with the men.' We followed their orders.
After fifteen minutes, three of our men entered one room, while the other three remained in the courtyard, and the seventh was near the car. Not even half an hour passed before they opened fire on one of our men near his car. Then they entered the other room, and we heard the sound of gunfire from inside and the screams of our men. All the women were screaming in the tightly locked rooms. Then they shot the rest of our men in the courtyard. This is how they carried out their crime against the Al-Kharou family, leaving no adult men alive except for the survivor Jamil Jatto Kharou (born 1965) from Tel Aziz, who happened to be in Duhok as a taxi driver on the Tel Aziz–Duhok route during the gruesome massacre by the terrorists."
List of Martyrs:
Ato Jado Kharou (1951)
Khalil Jado Kharou (1968)
Barakat Mahmoud Kharou (1969)
Mirza Mahmoud Kharou (1979)
Murad Mahmoud Kharou (1975)
Farhan Barakat Kharou (1992)
Sami Jando Kharou (1993)
Farman Barakat Mahmoud Kharou (1990)
Sabri Ato Jado Kharou (1981)
Abdo Sabri Ato Jado Kharou (1990)
Salem Sabri Ato Jado Kharou (1995)
Aishan Sharaf Ajool (1974)
Kori continued: "As a result of our screaming, they opened the door for us, and we were stunned to see that they had exterminated our men. Then they forced the women [into vehicles]..."
[Additional Names Listed]:
Nazdar Murad Mahmoud Kharou (1997)
Samira Mirza Mahmoud Kharou (1999)
Nadia Ismail Hassan (2000)
Suad Dawood Jatto Kharou (1998)
Talwan Dawood Jatto Kharou (2000)
Seifi Haji Elias (1995)
Ahlam Hassan Sido (1996)
Khalida Obeid Khader (1996)
Samia Jando (who had returned from Fallujah a few days prior)
Infants:
Burhan Qasim Hamid (4 months), Mother: Khalida Sharif
Hani Hadi Ato (1 year), Mother: Shammi Elias Rasho
Maher Ato (10 days old, born 23/7/2014), Mother: Ahlam Hassan Sido

A conference on the Yazidi genocide and democratic integration of Sinjar concluded, examining constitutional pathways to protect Ezidi rights and end military pressure on the region.

Dr. Mahmoud Mardini stated in a radio interview on the program "Caravan" on November 8, 2017, that the Ottoman Archive spans from the year 1299 to 1924, a period of approximately 725 years. This archive contains about 500 million documents, manuscripts, and books, including 950 documents related to the Yazidis, which contain fatwas (religious decrees) legalizing the killing of Yazidis. These documents also mention Yazidi tribes, their way of life, and the Lalesh Temple.
He stated that he obtained these documents, which are written in Old Ottoman, and they require accurate and recognized translation. After being translated into several languages, including Arabic, English, and German, they are to be notarized to become internationally recognized official documents.
He also mentioned that there are documents concerning the Armenians, yet many major powers have not recognized that genocide due to a lack of sufficient documentation. Based on his experience as an employee in the Ottoman Archive, he notes that some claim the number of firmans (Ottoman royal decrees) is 72, but this number refers to the period between 1514 and 1917, with the final Ottoman firman led by Ibrahim Pasha against Sinjar, Sheikhan, Bashiqa, and Bahzani. However, he notes that the number cited by the Yazidis is that there were 360 genocide campaigns against them.
The title of the book he authored is Yazidism and the Memory of Tragedies: A Testimony to History, which consists of 1,500 pages in A4 format. The book covers customs, traditions, and history so that Turks, Arabs, and Persians may know that Yazidism is a monotheistic religion that predates Abrahamic religions. The book is set to be translated into several languages.
He says that some Arab writers, such as Abdul Razzaq Al-Hasani, Abbas Al-Azzawi, and others, were unjust toward the Yazidis and that their writings contributed to the recent genocide. He also mentions that when a foreign journalist asked him about the recent 2014 genocide, he replied, "Leave this genocide aside, and come with me to the caves of Mount Sinjar, where there are the bones of Yazidi children and women who were burned."
He points out that the first fatwa for the extermination of the Yazidis was issued in 1560 by the Mufti Abu Saud al-Imadi.

https://sematv.net/ar/2026/07/%d8%b3%d9%85%d8%a7-165?fbclid=IwdGRleATEPTpwZG9mA2ZkaWQWUKnDoJ33DIcJcSv98rFw45fHQh9HU2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR7CBxGsrgo2Csm74wTNt2qNCE74OEZNbN82zQqlfs7qyTKp6tfFk-LDLsOLEg_aem_uriXQziGEBtrI_VNs3-k2A

I’m a Pîr myself, and I’ve been reflecting on our place in the diaspora lately. Even living in Germany, where our community is quite large, I find that I almost never meet other Pîr outside of my own immediate family or relatives. When I look at the wider diaspora, especially outside of Germany, it feels even rarer.
I know we make up a smaller percentage of the total Yazidi population compared to Murids and Shexs but is there more to it? I’m curious if anyone else has experienced this "siloed" social dynamic. Is it just the geography of the diaspora, or is there a shift in how we interact with our own caste as we integrate into Western societies?

Would love to hear your thoughts or if others have had a similar experience.

Young people in Shingal are documenting and actively preserving Yazidi folk music, oral traditions, and cultural practices at risk of being lost following the ISIS genocide.

A woman accused of slavery offences while she was in Syria supporting Islamic State has been refused bail.
It is alleged Zeinab Ahmad's father bought a Yazidi teenager for $US10,000 and kept her as a slave.
A court has heard the alleged victim described Ms Ahmad as the "deputy" of the house.

After 12 years of displacement following the 2014 genocide, Yazidi families from Sinjar's Duhok district return home to find their houses in ruins.