Resistance fighters in Sinjar

• Prize
  Gold in Press/War, Silver in Press/War
• Photographer
  Birgit Haubner, Germany

In August 2015 most parts of the Iraqi town of Sinjar were under control of ISIS. The
fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and their Yazidi affiliates, the Sinjar
Resistance Units (YBS/YPJ-S), fight alongside other militias against ISIS in the area.
Just a few meters away from the frontline, they have set up their bases in abandoned houses.

The Yazidi YBS consider it necessary to defend themselves, because no one had protected
them when ISIS overrun the area in August 2014 and killed and captured thousands of
Yazidis. PKK fighters are in Sinjar since they helped to evacuate thousands of Yazidis
from the Sinjar Mountains, where they had fled from ISIS.