Sinjar massacre

Part of the Northern Iraq offensive (August 2014), and the American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)

An image of the mountainside of Mount Sinjar

Date	August 2014
Location	Sinjar District, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq
Result	ISIL captures Sinjar and up to 5,000 Yazidis executed Kurdish forces, supported by US airstrikes, evacuate the majority of 50,000 Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar 9–13 August

Belligerents

Supported by:

Syriac Military Council

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Commanders and leaders

Murat Karayilan (PKK)
Massoud Barzani

Maj. Gen. Majid Abdul Salam Ashour † (Iraqi Air Force)

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Leader)
Abu Ayman al-Iraqi (Head of Military Shura)
Abu Muslim al-Turkmani (Deputy, Iraq)

Casualties and losses

2,000 killed (500 in Sinjar city; per Yazidis)
5,000 killed (per U.N.)
50,000 Yazidis displaced

Supported by:

Murat Karayilan (PKK)
Massoud Barzani

The Sinjar massacre was the killing of 5,000Yazidi men in Sinjar (Kurdish: شنگال‎ Şingal) city and Sinjar District in Iraq's Nineveh Governorate by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in August 2014. This event started with ISIL attacking and capturing Sinjar and neighboring towns on 3 August, during ISIL's offensive in early August 2014.

Dr Noori Abdulrahman, head of the Department of Coordination and Follow-up of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, stated that ISIL's 3 August campaign against Sinjar was more about demography and strategy than about religion. According to Abdulrahman, ISIL wanted to push most of the Kurds out of this strategic Yazidi areas and bring in Arabs, obedient to ISIL.

On 8 August 2014, the United States reacted with airstrikes on ISIL units and convoys in northern Iraq, which led to a war of several countries against ISIL. The assistance of PKK and YPG enabled the majority of the 50,000 Yazidis who fled into the Sinjar Mountains to be evacuated.

On 17 December 2014, the Kurdish Peshmerga, PKK and YPG forces started the December 2014 Sinjar offensive with the support of US airstrikes.

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Wikipedia