It’s been one year since ISIS was driven from the Iraqi city of Sinjar, but the Yazidis who called it their capital do not plan to rebuild, at least not in the same location.
(FOX)- The black-clad jihadist army left mass graves and rubble in its wake, and now, from an abandoned home in Sinjar, also known as Shingal, Mayor Mahma Khalil is meeting with his top aides to plan a new city, next to the old one.
The city once stood proudly at the base of Mount Sinjar, bustling with activity and steeped in ancient tradition. Farmers’ markets, festivals and Yazidi temples for the persecuted religious minority that made up 83 percent of the township dotted the cityscape.
After more than a year of ISIS occupation — and a fierce ground and aerial campaign to oust the terrorists — there is little worth saving in the city 43 miles west of Mosul, and once home to 152,000 people.
When ISIS overran the city in August 2014, enslaving and slaughtering the people it considers devil worshippers, Sinjar was nearly leveled. Every building, including homes, hospitals, schools and merchant shops, bears the scars of fire, bullets and bombs. Rubble and wreckage are everywhere, and the bodies of former inhabitants are routinely discovered in graves on the outskirts. Fliers dropped by the Iraqi Army to warn of the offensive that liberated the city still litter the ground and roofs.
For now, ISIS is kept at bay by the Yazidi Peshmerga who guard the city’s perimeter. But sporadic mortar fire and the smell of burning tires — an ISIS trick for disguising their movements with thick smoke — are constant reminders that the enemy army is near.