Sinjar Alliance

The Ezidkhan Command for Liberating Sinjar (Kurdish: Fermandariya Êzîdxana Ji Bo Rizgariya Şengalê), known as the Sinjar Alliance (Kurdish: Fermandariya Hevbeş a Şengalê, i.e. Sinjar Joint Command), is a joint command of two–initially three–Yazidi militias, the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ), and the Êzîdxan Women's Units (YJÊ). Both of the remaining two militias are supported by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The alliance was originally created in October 2015 to protect the Yezidi community from ISIL attacks, after the August 2014 Sinjar massacre, and included the Êzîdxan Protection Force (HPŞ), which in fact provided the largest contingent of fighters (claiming at the time of the operation 5,000 fighters, including about 400 women). However, the HPŞ left the alliance in early 2017 due to ideological differences with the PKK-backed YBŞ and YJÊ. The Alliance aims to establish democratic confederalism in a Yazidi autonomous region in Sinjar.