Executive Summary

On 3 August 2014, the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, IS or by its Arabic acronym Da'esh, commenced its attacks on the Yazidi people, an ethno-religious minority, in Sinjar, Northern Iraq. A UN commission of inquiry first concluded in 2016 that ISIL’s acts against the Yazidis amount to crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Over 50 separate locales (towns, villages, groups of houses, small valleys) in Sinjar were affected by the events of August 2014. Although there is a significant amount of publicly available information on ISIL crimes against the Yazidi community, it has either focused on ISIL crimes broadly without examining particular Yazidi villages, or on a limited number of villages, such as Kocho.

This report seeks to address this gap by examining ISIL’s attacks on Ger Zarik, Siba Sheikh-Kheder and Tel Azer. These locations were selected as they were the first majority-Yazidi villages in Sinjar targeted by ISIL.

The report draws on a variety of sources, particularly survivor testimonies to inform its findings.

The report indicates ISIL’s attacks against Ger Zarik, Siba Sheikh- Kheder and Tel Azer were well planned. Further, the crimes in these villages indicate a pattern of conduct by ISIL, emulated across Sinjar, revealing their widespread and systematic nature.

We look forward to receiving your inquiries at media@yazda.org.