Yazidi shrine, tombs destroyed in Syria’s Afrin
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A video went viral on Monday that showed the destruction of a Yazidi shrine and tombs in a village of Afrin region in northwest Syria.
The video was published by an activist. It shows the deliberate destruction of the shrine of Sheikh Hamid and the tombs of the Yazidi village of Qastal Jendo in the east of Afrin in Aleppo northern countryside.
Afrin has been under the occupation of the Turkish forces and their affiliated Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) since March 2018 following the so-called “Olive Branch” military operation to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting “Turkish national security.”
There were 58 Yazidi villages in Afrin at the onset of the 20th century. Prior to 2011, there were nearly 60.000 Yazidis in Afrin with 22 villages being co-habited by other communities.
Following the occupation, Afrin Yazidis have been a double target for extremist groups embracing Islamist ideology; they are targeted for being Kurdish by racist Arab militants and for being “infidels” by radical Islamists. This reflects, though in part the status of the affair in Afrin.
Mosques have been built in the Yazidi villages. The Yazidis themselves are forbidden from practicing their rituals freely.