Committees to begin integrating YBŞ fighters into Iraqi forces
Shafaq News- Nineveh
Specialized committees will begin work on integrating fighters of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ) into Iraq's state security institutions, Security Media Cell chief Lt. Gen. Saad Maan said on Monday, after federal forces took control of a strategic position on Mount Sinjar.
The move begins the implementation of plans to integrate YBŞ fighters into the Iraqi security forces, Maan said in a video recorded on Mount Sinjar. "Today is not a stage of negotiation but one of actual implementation," he said.
As part of the process, Iraqi forces took control of the highest point on Mount Sinjar, which Maan described as one of the mountain's strategic positions, at a handover ceremony held under the patronage of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, commander-in-chief of the armed forces. They will also take over the Qalaa area and other positions overlooking Yazidi areas, he said.
Sinjar, a district in Nineveh province that is home to a large part of Iraq’s Yazidi community, has been contested by armed groups and security forces since ISIS attacked the community in 2014. The YBŞ, formed at the time to defend Yazidis, has long been a point of tension with Turkiye, which regards it as an extension of the PKK.
Iraq and Turkiye agreed on September 23 to establish full federal authority in Sinjar and end the presence of what their joint statement called "banned foreign armed elements," alongside a gradual Turkish handover of the Bashiqa-Zilkan camp near Mosul.
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler welcomed progress in Sinjar last week.
