Northern Iraq: Yazidi self defense force targeted by armed drone

A vehicle in Sinjar (Shengal), Northern Iraq, was targeted by an armed drone on Sunday, Roj News reported.

The incident occurred in the village of Bahrava near the town of Khana Sor, north of the Mount of Sinjar, Roj News said.

The Command of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) -a Yazidi self defense force that emerged in 2007 to protect Yazidis in the wake of attacks by Sunni Islamist groups- said in a statement:

"Turkish drones have been conducting surveillance missions over the area in the last two weeks. Today, at 09:30 AM and 10:00 AM, one of our vehicles was targeted twice by drone strikes. There are no casualties."

It continued:

"Turkish forces changed tactics since the liberation of Shengal from brutal gangs and began to use drones in their attacks against our people. It is obvious that they intend to complete what the gangs of the Islamic State left unfinished."

Thousands of Yazidis were killed and thousands of Yazidi women and children were enslaved by ISIS in August 2014, while ISIS attacks also resulted in the displacement of the Yazidi people living in the towns and villages south of Mount Sinjar.

Turkish forces intensified their attacks in the region following the retreat of ISIS in 2017, according to a report by the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, titled "Five Years of Airstrikes."

The report observes the death of at least 33 people between 2017-2021 in aerial attacks carried out by Turkey, noting that there has been no international monitoring on these attacks.