A high-level Iraqi security delegation headed by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Abdul-Amir Rashid Yarallah visited Sinjar in western Nineveh on Tuesday to assess the district’s security and administrative situation and discuss mechanisms for bringing armed groups under state control, former Sinjar mayor Mahma Khalil told BasNews.

Khalil said the delegation focused on following up on the disarmament of armed groups in Sinjar and reorganizing the district’s administration, noting that Baghdad does not consider the current security and administrative arrangements satisfactory.

“The committee held meetings and conveyed the message of the Iraqi prime minister,” Khalil said, adding that the discussions addressed mechanisms for reorganizing the security situation and transferring weapons to the state.

The visit comes after Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ali al-Zaidi announced on September 11 that groups affiliated with the Resistance Front in Sinjar would hand over their weapons to the state and that Mount Sinjar would come under the full control of the federal government and its security and administrative institutions.

Al-Zaidi also ordered the formation of a high-level committee to prepare a comprehensive report on Sinjar’s security and services situation.

The committee is tasked with reviewing the status of members of the Sinjar Resistance Units and determining whether eligible members can be incorporated into official security and service institutions in accordance with Iraqi law.

The government’s measures also include broader efforts aimed at stabilizing Sinjar, including reconstruction, compensation for victims, creating conditions for the return of displaced residents and ending the fragmentation of security decision-making in the district.

Sinjar’s security and administrative arrangements have remained contentious since the Islamic State’s 2014 attack on the area, with multiple armed and security forces operating in the district.

The 2020 Sinjar Agreement between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government called for reorganizing the district’s security situation and removing unauthorized armed groups. However, implementation of the agreement has remained incomplete.