ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraqi army forces are set to withdraw from the city center of Sinjar after reaching an agreement with the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) on Saturday , an official told The New Region.

“We reached an agreement with the YBS, and we will withdraw our forces from the city center, and they will also remove the protest tent,” Atheer Hamza, commander of the Iraqi army's 20th division, told the New Rehion on Saturday.

“there will be no security escalation,” he added.

Armed clashes broke out on Tuesday evening between the Iraqi army and the YBS in the center of Sinjar, with injuries reported on both sides.

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command claimed that the skirmish occurred after members of the YBS, an all-Yazidi PKK-affiliated group “kidnapped a citizen” in Sinjar.

The Iraqi army and the YBS have previously engaged in clashes in Sinjar over who should control the Yazidi heartland and its surroundings. 

In October 2020, under the leadership of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, the Iraqi government inked a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government aimed at normalizing the situation in Sinjar.

The agreement outlined that the federal government would oversee security operations in Sinjar in collaboration with the regional government, while Nineveh's local administration would manage public services. It further mandated the removal of the PKK elements and other armed factions from the district, transferring control to the federal army and police. However, nearly five years since its ratification, the Iraqi government has yet to enact this agreement.