Sinjar massacre

Sinjar massacre
	Part of Iraqi Civil War (2014-2017), 2014 Northern Iraq offensive, the American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present) and the Yazidi genocide
	; Mount Sinjar
Date	August 2014
Location	Sinjar District, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq
Result	thousands of Yazidis executed and abducted thousands of Yazidi women and children YPG and PKK, supported by US and British airstrikes, evacuate the majority of the 50,000 Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar, 9–13 August;
Territorial; changes	on 3 August the city of Sinjar was captured by ISIS forcesas well as the Sinjar area.
Belligerents
Iraq; Kurdistan Region Peshmerga; ; Kurdistan Workers' Party; People's Protection Units; Sinjar Resistance Units; Syriac Military Council; Supported by: United States; United Kingdom; Australia;	Islamic State
Commanders and leaders
Massoud Barzani; (Kurdistan Region); Murat Karayilan; (PKK); Maj. Gen. Majid Abdul Salam Ashour †; (Iraqi Air Force)	Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi; (Leader); Abu Muhannad al-Suwaydawi; (Head of Military Shura); al-Hajj Abdullah; (Deputy to al-Baghdadi); Abu Muslim al-Turkmani; (Deputy, Iraq);
Casualties and losses
	3,000 killed (approximately 12,000 Yazidis were killed or abducted by IS; per Yazda); 5,000 killed (per U.N.); 2,100 to 4,400 killed and 4,200 to 10,800 abducted (2017 Plos Medical survey); 500,000 displaced;

The Sinjar massacre (Kurdish: Komkujiya Şengalê) marked the beginning of the genocide of Yazidis by ISIL, the killing and abduction of thousands of Yazidi men, women and children. It took place in August 2014 in Sinjar city and Sinjar District in Iraq's Nineveh Governorate and was perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The massacre began with ISIL attacking and capturing Sinjar and neighboring towns on 3 August, during its Northern Iraq offensive.

On 8 August 2014, the United States and the United Kingdom responded with airstrikes on ISIL units and convoys in northern Iraq, which led to a military intervention from several countries against ISIL.

On 17 December 2014, the Kurdish Peshmerga, PKK and YPG forces started the December 2014 Sinjar offensive with the support of US and British airstrikes. This offensive broke ISIL's troop transport routes and supply lines between Mosul and Raqqa, the largest cities in the hands of ISIL at the time.

According to Noori Abdulrahman, the head of the Department of Coordination and Follow-up of the Kurdistan Regional Government, ISIL wanted to push most of the Kurds out of strategic areas and bring in Arabs who were obedient to ISIL.