Iraqi lawmaker says only 10% of Yazidis received ISIS-era compensation

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A lawmaker from the Yazidi Brotherhood Coalition bloc in Iraq's parliament said only about 10 percent of Yazidis affected by the 2014 ISIS offensive have received compensation, roughly 12 years after the attack. Bloc head Murad Ismail made the remarks on the Sumariya TV program "Alanen," warning that around half of the Yazidi community remains in displacement. Ismail said nearly 2,700 Yazidis remain on the lists of the kidnapped and missing, and that between 250,000 and 300,000 Yazidis, along with tens of thousands of Muslim residents of Sinjar, were displaced. He attributed the failure of returns to security, administrative and political disputes, as well as insufficient funding, and held the central government, the Kurdistan Regional government and political forces responsible for the ongoing crisis. The lawmaker also said Sinjar has become a battleground for influence, leaving residents excluded from decisions about their future. He criticized the Sinjar Agreement signed between Baghdad and Erbil as incomplete because it did not adequately involve the local population. Ismail estimated that around $2 billion is needed to rebuild Sinjar and facilitate the return of displaced residents, and said funds allocated since 2014 have not been directed toward strategic projects. He described the situation as an existential issue for the Yazidi community.