Duhok official: YBŞ deal lacks return guarantees
Shafaq News- Duhok
The recent agreement between Baghdad and the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ) lacks sufficient guarantees to encourage displaced families to return to Sinjar, a Duhok official warned on Wednesday, noting that his department had no information about its details.
Pir Dayan Jaafar, director of Duhok’s Migration, Displacement and Crisis Response Department, told Shafaq News that previous agreements involving the YBŞ, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and Baghdad had yielded little progress, leaving displaced families reluctant to trust new arrangements. He also criticized the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) exclusion from the latest negotiations.
On Wednesday, Sabah Al-Numan, spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of Iraq’s Armed Forces, confirmed that YBŞ members had been integrated into federal security forces and their positions in the Sinjar Mountains handed over to Iraqi military units.
Read more: YBŞ deal secures Sinjar’s mountain, leaves its administration unresolved
Winter Fuel Concerns
Jaafar also warned that around 270,000 displaced people in Duhok province face uncertainty over winter heating fuel, with federal authorities yet to respond to a kerosene request for camp residents and rejecting a separate request for those living outside camps. His department, he said, submitted the request for camp residents in early September, while displaced families outside camps have received no federal kerosene supplies since 2017.
Approximately 110,000 displaced people currently live in camps across Duhok, while another 160,000 reside outside them, according to Jaafar, who said the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) continues to provide essential camp services, including water, electricity, waste collection, education, and healthcare, but the withdrawal of humanitarian organizations has increased pressure on regional authorities and camp administrations.
Read more: The long shadow of Sinjar: Twelve years after the ISIS genocide
Read more: Over 110,000 Sinjar residents still displaced after nearly 12 years
