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Ain Sifni

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Ain Sifni
Ain Sifni is located in Iraq
Ain Sifni
Ain Sifni
Location in Iraq
Coordinates: 36°41′30″N 43°21′00″E / 36.69167°N 43.35000°E / 36.69167; 43.35000
Country Iraq
Region Kurdistan Region
GovernorateNineveh Governorate
DistrictShekhan District
Population
 (2014)
 • Total16,000[1]

Ain Sifni (Template:Lang-ar,[nb 1][5] Template:Lang-ku)[nb 2][6] is a town and district in Nineveh Governorate in Kurdistan Region, Iraq. It is located in the Nineveh Plains.

In the town, there is a Chaldean Catholic church of Mar Yousif, and a church of Mar Gewargis of the Ancient Church of the East.[3][4][7] There is also a Yazidi shrine of Sheikh Adi.[3]

Etymology

The Kurdish name of the town is derived from the plural form of "sheikh" ("holy man" in Kurdish), and thus translates to "[the land of the] holy men".[3][1]

History

Ain Sifni may have originally been a Christian village, but likely converted in the 13th/14th centuries, and a Yazidi community was present by the 19th century.[8] The district was founded on 16 December 1924.[9] Assyrians of the Baz clan of Hakkari settled at Ain Sifni after the Assyrian genocide in the First World War, and were attacked by the Iraqi army during the Simele massacre in 1933.[10] The Chaldean church of Mar Yousif was rebuilt in 1960, replacing an older church built in 1946-1948.[3]

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, two Iraqi military installations near Ain Sifni were struck by US airstrikes on 24 March.[11] Two battalions of the Iraqi 108th Regiment, 8th Infantry Division, were stationed at the town at this time.[12] The US bombing campaign against the garrison was ineffective, and an entire Iraqi battalion withdrew with no casualties.[12] On 6 April, ODAs 051, 055, and 056 of the US 10th Special Forces Group and 300 Peshmerga soldiers of the 12th Supay (battalion) seized the town, and 33 Iraqis were killed, 54 wounded, and 230 taken prisoner, and 1 Peshmerga casualty.[13]

In September 2007, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed a production sharing contract with Hunt Oil Company to extract oil near Ain Sifni, despite the town being officially outside the control of the KRG, and has since been declared illegal by the Iraqi government.[14] The concession at Ain Sifni is estimated to have reservoirs of 900 million recoverable barrels of oil.[15]

By December 2012, the Supreme Committee of Christian Affairs had constructed a priest house and community hall for local Christians.[3] The town had an estimated population of 11,498 in 2013.[5] Most of the town's population of 16,000 people fled during the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant offensive in August 2014, and under 500 men remained to defend Ain Sifni under the leadership of mayor Mamo al-Bagsri.[1] Humanitarian aid was delivered to Ain Sifni by the Assyrian Aid Society in November 2014.[16]

In November 2018, the refugee camp at Ain Sifni, which is inhabited by Yazidi refugees, was flooded by heavy rainfall.[6] The town was the residence of the Yazidi Emir Tahseen Said until he went into exile in Germany, where he died, and was buried at Ain Sifni on 5 February 2019.[17][18] Ain Sifni is largely populated by Yazidis,[19] most of whom speak Kurmanji Kurdish.[20]

Geography

Climate

Ain Sifni has a mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa).

Climate data for Ain Sifni
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 10.8
(51.4) 		12.7
(54.9) 		16.6
(61.9) 		22.3
(72.1) 		29.8
(85.6) 		36.7
(98.1) 		40.9
(105.6) 		40.7
(105.3) 		36.4
(97.5) 		28.7
(83.7) 		19.8
(67.6) 		12.7
(54.9) 		25.7
(78.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) 5.9
(42.6) 		7.5
(45.5) 		10.9
(51.6) 		15.9
(60.6) 		22.3
(72.1) 		28.0
(82.4) 		32.1
(89.8) 		31.6
(88.9) 		27.2
(81.0) 		20.5
(68.9) 		13.6
(56.5) 		7.7
(45.9) 		18.6
(65.5)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 1.0
(33.8) 		2.3
(36.1) 		5.3
(41.5) 		9.6
(49.3) 		14.9
(58.8) 		19.4
(66.9) 		22.3
(72.1) 		22.5
(72.5) 		18.0
(64.4) 		12.4
(54.3) 		7.5
(45.5) 		2.7
(36.9) 		11.5
(52.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 126
(5.0) 		149
(5.9) 		138
(5.4) 		97
(3.8) 		35
(1.4) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		1
(0.0) 		18
(0.7) 		74
(2.9) 		110
(4.3) 		748
(29.4)
Source: https://en.climate-data.org/location/934732/
  • Yazidi cemetery in Ain Sifni
    Yazidi cemetery in Ain Sifni
  • Yazidi shrine of Nishingaha Peroz near Ain Sifni
    Yazidi shrine of Nishingaha Peroz near Ain Sifni

References

Notes

  1. ^ Alternatively transliterated as ʿAyn Sifni,[2] Ainsefni,[3] or Ean Sefne.[4]
  2. ^ Alternatively transliterated as Sheikhan,[1] Shekhan.[3]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d Soguel, Dominique (12 August 2014). "A sanctuary for Iraqi Yazidis – and a plea for Obama's intervention". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  2. ^ Carlson, Thomas A. (9 December 2016). "ʿAyn Sifni". The Syriac Gazetteer. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Shekhan (Ainsefni)". Ishtar TV. 16 December 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Mar Yousif church – Eansefne". Ishtar TV. 10 November 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b "'Ayn Sifnī". World Gazetteer. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  6. ^ a b "ŞÊXAN - Li kampa Kurdên Êzidî lehî rabû û avê da bin 30 çadiran". Rudaw Media Network (in Kurdish). 23 November 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Mar Gewragiz church – Ean Sefne". Ishtar TV. 29 October 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  8. ^ Wilmshurst (2000), p. 203.
  9. ^ "Basic information about Shekhan District" (PDF). Christian Aid Programme in Iraq. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 25, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  10. ^ Donabed (2015), p. 116.
  11. ^ Harding, Luke; Howard, Michael (25 March 2003). "Bombing raids signal start of mountain offensive". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  12. ^ a b Finlayson (2005), p. 75.
  13. ^ Finlayson (2005), p. 78.
  14. ^ Lando, Ben (25 August 2011). "Hunt Oil knew KRG oil deal in disputed territory". Iraq Oil Report. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  15. ^ Helman, Christopher (13 September 2012). "Newest Iraqi Gusher Could Make Texas Oilman A Billionaire". Forbes. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  16. ^ "Within The Activities Of AAS-Iraq In Providing Aid To The Displaced Families From Mosul & Nineveh Plain". Assyrian Aid Society. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  17. ^ "Prince of IS-ravaged Yazidis buried in Iraq". Qantara.de. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  18. ^ "What you did not know about Iraq's Yazidi minority". Al Arabiya. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  19. ^ Elî, Nasir (13 March 2019). "Sheikhan: Where Kurdish men go for a second wife". Rudaw Media Network. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  20. ^ Salih, Mohammed A; Wilgenburg, Wladimir van (5 August 2014). "Iraqi Yazidis: 'If we move they will kill us'". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 11 April 2020.

Bibliography

  • Donabed, Sargon George (2015). Reforging a Forgotten History: Iraq and the Assyrians in the Twentieth Century. Edinburgh University Press.
  • Finlayson, Kenneth (2005). "This is What You Signed Up For: The Attack on Ayn Sifni" (PDF). Veritas. 1 (1): 75–78.
  • Wilmshurst, David (2000). The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318–1913. Peeters Publishers.
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