Fighters from the Kurdish peshmerga militias take up positions in Sinjar in November 2015, during the operation to oust the Islamic State from the area. More than two years later, Sinjar is back in the spotlight once again.
As it has been a handful of times during recent periods of conflict in Iraq, remote Mount Sinjar is back in the spotlight. Baghdad deployed troops to the area in northwestern Iraq on March 26, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch an offensive in the region to drive out fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Although Turkey is standing down for now, it's not clear whether Ankara will be satisfied to let Iraqi forces hold Sinjar, and the situation could yet go in several different directions. An Unlikely Prize to Fight Over Lacking in natural resources and surrounded by desolate stretches of desert, Sinjar is not a particularly valuable asset. It is, however, a strategic one, for Iraq and Turkey alike .
