KURDISH officials called on the Iraqi army to stop its attacks on the Yazidi people in their Shengal homeland today, calling for a peaceful resolution instead of war. 

The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) umbrella organisation said that the attacks were taking place to destroy the system of self-governance that has operated in the region since a 2014 genocide at the hands of Isis. 

Armoured vehicles and tanks entered Shengal and attacked the Shengal Resistance Units (YBS) and the Shengal Women’s Units (YBS) today, KNK officials told the Morning Star. 

Iraqi soldiers also fought with the Yazidi internal security forces while a school in the Dugir area of the province was bombed, the KNK claimed.  

The area has been under intense pressure in recent months, with Iraqi armed forces erecting what it claimed was a 155-mile long security wall to protect Shengal from Isis attacks.

But the local administration, which was not consulted about the construction, said the real purpose was to divide the region from the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria known as Rojava. 

KNK officials said the operation was being carried out in parallel to the Turkish invasion in the Avasin, Metina and Zap mountain ranges, known collectively as as the Medya Defence Zones. 

Part of these areas are under the control of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Ankara says is the target of Operation Claw Lock, launched last month. 

“The goal is to cut off the connection between Sinjar, Rojava and the Medya defence zones, isolate all three areas and eventually crush their resistance,” a spokesman said.  

“There is collusion between the Erdogan government in Turkey, the Barzani-led KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party] in South Kurdistan and the Iraqi central government under Mustafa al-Kadhimi,” he claimed. 

Shengal is run under the principles of democratic confederalism, the ideology of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

But a security deal struck between Baghdad and Erbil in 2020 — behind the backs of residents — saw the imposition of a KDP mayor.

The agreement also demands that “armed groups” leave the area, a move aimed at the PKK which no longer has a presence there.

Further attempts have been made to impose unelected officials in Shengal, however they have been rejected by the local population and a state of tension continues.

Last week German journalist Marlene Forster and Slovenian freelance reporter Matej Kavcic were detained by Iraqi security forces who accused the pair of collaborating with the PKK. 

KNK officials have called for a peaceful solution and negotiations with the local administration. 

“We call on the Iraqi army to immediately stop its military attacks on the Yazidis and call on the Iraqi government and political parties to find peaceful solutions with the Yazidi representatives instead of war,” a statement said.