(3 Aug 2016) Two years after it was overrun by Islamic State militants, many of its residents murdered or driven away into slavery, and over six months after it was liberated by Kurdish forces, the city of Sinjar still lies in ruins, empty of its Yazidi and Muslim inhabitants.
Most of the buildings in the city were destroyed by coalition airstrikes in a battle that lasted for a year as Kurdish militias tried to contain the Islamic State (IS) group.
Little to no re-construction has been done since, there are no services of any kind, the frontline is still only a few kilometres away and almost no-one lives here.
Most of its former inhabitants still live on Sinjar mountain, just behind the city, or in the vast refugee camps of northern Iraq.
Jalal Qassim, a shopkeeper stands among the ruins of his shop and says there is nothing for them to come back to.
Apart from the general destruction—some estimates say that 16,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the city - Sinjar is also mired in political tension.
The Peshmerga militia of the Kurdistan Regional Government vie for influence with a Yazidi militia called the YBS.
The YBS is an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, better known as the PKK, a powerful armed group that has fought both IS and the Turkish state.
The YBS, the PKK and the Peshmerga all fought together to liberate Sinjar from IS. But now the two sides are in a state of constant tension.
The YBS receives support from the Iraqi government, which wants to maintain control over the city, technically part of federal Iraqi. The Peshmerga view Sinjar as part of Kurdistan. Both vie for influence over the area's Yazidi population.
Brigadier Seme Mala Mohammed, deputy commander of Peshmerga forces in Sinjar, blames the presence of the YBS for the city's troubles, saying they are organising illegally and obstructing the rebuilding process so that they can benefit from the general instability.
While YBS's commander, Mazlum Shingal, said there was no way his forces would withdraw from the area as they were the inhabitants and owners of that land. He said it was necessary for the two sides to put their disagreements aside and govern the city together.
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