Freedom on hold
From afar, Mount Sinjar rises out of Iraq’s caked-earth flats like a giant upturned tureen. Up close, its crevices offer glimpses of lush tobacco plantations, and the homes of Yazidis lurking within. So formidable are its rugged defences that it has defeated the many foes who for centuries have sought to stamp out the ancient […]From afar, Mount Sinjar rises out of Iraq’s caked-earth flats like a giant upturned tureen. Up close, its crevices offer glimpses of lush tobacco plantations, and the homes of Yazidis lurking within. So formidable are its rugged defences that it has defeated the many foes who for centuries have sought to stamp out the ancient peacock-worshipping sect. Even the most recent and cruel, Islamic State (IS), which massacred and enslaved Yazidi communities on the plains with abandon, gave up the effort once it reached its foothills.
The mountain’s plateau today is coated with tents, sheltering the fortunate thousands who fled for its passes before the jihadists swept through in August 2014 and hunted the others down. Reluctant to entrust their fate to outsiders, they have set up their own administrative council in a caravan, as well as an armed force, the Sinjar Resistance Units, numbering 1,000 men. The multi-faith settlements Saddam Hussein fashioned on the plains below in the 1970s seem a historical relic. Today, says the council chief, Khidr Salih, Iraq’s half million Yazidis need their own enclave and homeland; the region has now fallen to the Kurds.
