Yezidi House in Jazira region, Syria: ISIS buried Yezidis in 80 mass graves

HASAKAH ,Syria (North Press) – Mahmoud al-Rasho, a member of the Yezidi House in Jazira Region, said that "The Islamic State (ISIS) kidnapped more than six thousand Yezidi men, women, and children, killed Yezidis, and buried them in more than 80 mass graves."

This came in a statement to North Press during the Yezidi House  commemoration on Monday, the sixth anniversary of the Sinjar (Shengal) massacre in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, during which ISIS killed and kidnapped thousands of Yezidis in 2014.

Rasho said that "ISIS destroyed more than 70 shrines in Shengal, killed hundreds of Yezidis, and buried them in 80 mass graves.“

“The Yezidi House liberated, in coordination with the Syrian Democratic Forces during its battles against the ISIS in northern and eastern Syria, 377 Yezidi women and children, while the fate of thousands of them remains unknown,” he added.

He pointed out that coordination between the Yezidi House and the families of those kidnapped by ISIS is still ongoing, and the work continues to determine the fate of the kidnapped.

In a press conference that was held in Barazan village in the Hasakah countryside, Yezidi House in the Jazira Region issued a statement in which they thanked the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG) that rescued Yezidis and opened a humanitarian corridor for them from the Shengal mountains to North and East Syria.

Co-chair of the Yezidi House in Jazira Region Faroq Tozo called on the international community to investigate the massacre and hold to account all those involved in it.

The 3rd of August marks the sixth anniversary of the genocide that ISIS carried out against Yezidis, and to this day thousands of members of the often-persecuted religious minority abducted by ISIS remain missing.

Reporting by Jindar Abdulqader, editing by Lucas Chapman