Hashd al-Shabi an Iranian-backed Shia militia that took control over Kurdish areas of Shingal and Kirkuk in October 16, 2017 is now trying to convince the Yezidis to convert to Shiite Islam, dwellers told Avatoday.
“Daesh (ISIS) was forcing us to convert to Sunni Islam, otherwise they were threatening to kill us or taking our girls as sex slave,” a Yezidi from Shingal told Avatoday, “and now, Hashd al-Shabi gives (Yezidi) people money to convert to Shiite Islam.
Islamic State attacked Shingal in August 2014, killing some 5,000 men and taking thousands of women as sex slave. Two to Three thousands of Yezidi women are still missing. Shingal was liberated by Kurdish forces in November 2015.
“We are stuck between two side of Islam, Sunni and Shia,” he continued, “each time one of them attack us and try to demolish our religious. One time they want us to convert to Sunni and another time they oblige us to convert to Shiite.”
While Shingal remains destructed, the Shiite groups spends hundreds of thousands of Dollars renovating shrines of Shiite Imams in the area.
The Younger Zineb in the city of Shingal which was ruined by ISIS has recently been renovated, much bigger and fancier that it was before.
Avatoday sources who have been visiting Mosul and Shingal several times after the fall of ISIS said that the Shiite forces, “just like Islamic Republic of Iran has put too much effort to spread Shi’ism throughout Iraq.”
