...Scroll down for pictures...
There’s a strange and desolate beauty to Sinjar City. Stuck in limbo since its liberation from ISIS in November 2015, when airstrikes destroyed much of the old town, its rubble strewn streets lie peacefully under the warm spring sunshine. Not much other than sparrows break the silence. Very few members of its original, largely Yezidi, population have moved back. Most prefer to remain in camps on top of Mount Sinjar or further afield. There’s little for them to come back to, and those who do face an almost total lack of amenities and services such as electricity and water, education and healthcare. The risk of arriving to find their home no more than a heap of broken masonry and twisted rebar, all their possessions gone or ruined, is high. It’s been 18 months and literally nothing has been done to rebuild this once bustling city.