Iraqi minorities look to rebuild after Daesh

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Sarah Benhaida| Agence France Presse
BARTELA, Iraq: A Christmas tree stands on a roundabout in Bartela in northern Iraq, its base adorned by posters of Shabak martyrs killed in the fight against Daesh (ISIS).
Now that victory has been declared against the militants, Iraq’s ethnic and religious minorities are taking the future into their own hands. In Baz Gerkan village, where fighting damaged or destroyed most of the houses, Shabak residents have rebuilt their school themselves.

A few kilometers away, they have restored the shrine of Imam Rida, the eighth of the Shiites’ 12 imams, which was blown up by the Sunni militants who consider Shiites to be heretics.

Shabaks, who number around 60,000 in Iraq, have their own language and say they first settled in the Arab country several centuries ago from northern Iran. Their places of worship, such as those of Christians, Yazidis and other minorities, were targeted by Daesh, and many fled their homes during the three years of militant occupation.

There are now only 400,000 Christians in Iraq against more than 1 million before the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, making up 3 percent of the country’s population along with Yazidis, Sabeans and Shabaks.

Today, several months after the entire northern province of Ninevah was retaken from the extremists, churches and monasteries have been restored.

And for the first time in four years last December, Christmas carols were heard.

The Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority has also managed to rebuild 20 of 23 temples destroyed by the militants in the Bashiqa area, east of Iraq’s second city Mosul.

“All this was done thanks to donations from Yazidis and other inhabitants of the region,” said Hilal Ali, who is in charge of the Yazidi sites of worship.

Mutassem Abed, 47, is a Shiite who joined the Al-Hashd al-Shaabi coalition of paramilitary units following a call to arms in 2004 by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shiite religious scholar.

The Hashd was formed specifically to counter the rise of Daesh in the country, and played a key role in the militants’ defeat in 2017.

Now that the fighting has ended, Abed is looking to his future.

“We must rebuild a sanctuary that is even more beautiful and even bigger, to say to [Daesh] that it did not win,” the Shabak fighter told AFP, wearing a parka over his uniform.

Life may slowly be returning to normal, but many checkpoints have been set up, usually manned by members of Hashd units from the Shabak, Turkmen, Christian or Yazidi minorities.

Iraq is relying on local forces to maintain security on the ground, after declaring in December that the war against Daesh had been won.

Such fighters know the local people, speak their languages and can easily spot any intruders, commanders say.

“Even before [Daesh], other terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda tried to chase out minorities,” said Zein al-Abidine Jamil, a Shabak commander with the Hashd.

Another Bartela Shabak, a police officer manning a checkpoint in the old part of Mosul, recalled the days when he could only enter the city under escort.

“Mosul? I went there on patrol. But never in a personal capacity. A lone Shiite? That would have been madness!” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Sunnis are a minority in Iraq, but in Mosul they form the majority and also have a presence in villages around the city.

The Shabak minority has a small Sunni community within it.

But, residents say, many of them joined Daesh and were killed. Others fled with their families, joining the ranks of the displaced.

Today, several months after Ninevah province was rid of Daesh, “we are directly responsible for the security of citizens,” Jamil said.

Because of their local knowledge, such fighters were a major asset to the armed forces in their fightback against Daesh.

But human rights groups have charged that some minorities targeted by the militants were themselves guilty of abuses.

In December, the New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Yazidi fighters of executing 52 civilians in apparent revenge killings after capturing territory from the extremists.

HRW said those killed included women and children, and came from eight families of the Sunni tribe Albu Metewut who were fleeing clashes between Daesh and pro-government militias north of Mosul.

https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2018/Jan-17/434014-iraqi-minorities-look-to-rebuild-after-daesh.ashx