Members of the Yazidi minority group spent Thursday observing the third anniversary of the Islamic State’s attack against them. Males were murdered outright in the early days of the campaign, while many females were kept alive to be used as sex slaves. Thousands of Yazidis are still missing and likely in militant custody. Although the militants were flushed out of the Yazidi region in northern Iraq, rival Shi’ite and Kurdish forces have control of separate areas. The Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K.) has also established itself in the region. According to the United Nations, the genocidal campaign is ongoing.
Mayor Abdulsattar Habo announced that the Old City district of Mosul was completely destroyed during operations against the ISIS/Daesh militants.
Jordan is considering reopening its international border with Iraq but requires the United States to guarantee that the crossing is safe.
At least 21 were killed and three were wounded in recent violence:
Three Peshmerga were killed and other was wounded during an attack in Tuz.
In Najma village, near Qayara, militants killed an Iraqi officer and kidnapped another.
A bomb wounded an engineer and a policeman in Jurf al-Sakhar.
At least a dozen militants were killed in an airstrike near Kuwaz Kurd village. Others were wounded.
An explosion in Hawija killed four militants, including one who was a “toxic gases expert.
In Mosul, an airstrike killed a militant security chief.
Artillery fire in the Makhoul Mountains left a number of militants dead.
