Sinjar Mountains

Sinjar Şengal
Satellite picture of Shingal Mountains
Highest point
Elevation
Coordinates
Geography
Sinjar Şengal Shingal, Iraq

The Sinjar Mountains (Kurdish: Çiyayên Şengalê چیای شەنگال/شەنگار‎; Arabic: جبل سنجار‎‎ jabal Sinjār; also Shingal\Shengar Mountains) are a 100-kilometre-long (62 mi) mountain range that runs east to west, rising above the surrounding alluvial steppe plains in northwestern Iraq to an elevation of 1,463 meters (4,800 ft). The highest segment of these mountains, about 75 km (47 mi) long, lies in Nineveh Governorate, currently partly administered by the Iraqi Kurdistan. The western and lower segment of these mountains lies in Syria which is about 25 km (16 mi) long and controlled by the de facto autonomous Syrian Kurdistan. The city of Sinjar is just south of the range. These mountains are regarded as sacred by the Yazidis.

Geology

Terrace farming on Sinjar mountains

Anticlinal structures in Nineveh. Jebel Sinjar is the largest and most western structure

The Sinjar Mountains are a spectacular example of a breached anticlinal structure. These mountains consist of an asymmetrical, doubly plunging anticline, which is called the Sinjar Anticline, with a steep northern limb, gentle southern limb and a northerly vergence. The northern side of the anticline is normally faulted, which results in the repetition of the sequence of sedimentary strata exposed in it. The deeply eroded Sinjar Anticline exposes a number of sedimentary formations ranging from Late Cretaceous to Early Neogene in age. The Late Cretaceous Shiranish Formation outcrops within the middle of the Sinjar Mountains. The flanks of this mountain range consist of outward dipping strata of the Sinjar and Aliji formations (Paleocene to Early Eocene); Jaddala Formation (Middle to Late Eocene); Serikagne Formation (Early Miocene); and Jeribe Formation (Early Miocene). The Sinjar Mountains are surrounded by exposures of Middle and Late Miocene sedimentary strata

The mountain is a groundwater recharge area and should have good quality water, although away from the mountain groundwater quality is poor. Quantities are sufficient for agricultural and stock use.

Sinjarite, a hygroscopic calcium chloride formed as soft pink mineral, was discovered in braided wadi fill in limestone exposures near Sinjar.

Population and history

Since the 12th century, the area around the mountains have been mainly inhabited by Yazidis who venerate them and consider the highest to be the place where Noah's Ark settled after the biblical flood. The Yazidis have historically used the mountains as a place of refuge and escape during periods of conflict. Gertrude Bell wrote, in the 1920s: "Until a couple of years ago the Yezidis were ceaselessly at war with the Arabs and with everybody else."

Islamic State conflict

See also: Persecution of Yazidis by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Sinjar massacre

In August 2014, an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 Yazidis fled to the mountains following raids by Islamic State (IS) forces on the city of Sinjar, which fell to ISIL on August 3. The Yazidi refugees on the mountain faced what a relief worker called a "genocide" by the radicals. Stranded without water, food, shade, or medical supplies, the Yazidis had to rely on scarce supplies of water and food airdropped by American, British, Australian, and Iraqi forces. By August 10, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), People's Protection Units (YPG) and Kurdish Peshmerga forces defended some 30,000 of the Yezidis by opening a corridor from the mountains into nearby Rojava, through the Cezaa and Telkocher road, and from there into Iraqi Kurdistan. [1] although thousands more remained stranded on the mountain as of August 12. It has been reported that 300 Yazidi women were taken as slaves and over 500 men, women, and children were killed, some beheaded or buried alive in the foothills, as part of an effort by the "extremists to instill fear and to supposedly desecrate the mountain the Yazidis consider sacred. Yezidi girls allegedly raped by ISIS fighters have committed suicide by jumping to their death from Mount Sinjar, as described in a witness statement.

In December 2014, Kurdish Peshmerga, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), People's Protection Units (YPG) launched the Sinjar offensive and took over Sinjar mountain, and freed hundreds of people.

See also

• Yazidi genocide
• Ezidkhan
• Yazidi tribes