SINUNI, Iraq — Sinuni, an overwhelmingly Yazidi town just miles from the Syrian border, is a traumatized town. With the defeat of the Islamic State, it has largely rebuilt. Crowds gather in front of government offices to apply for compensation grants to help fund their rebuilding. Children walk alone to school, albeit overcrowding and a lack of teachers mean they must attend only one of three shifts, and so suffer an abbreviated day. A shiny new police station built by the United Nations Development Programme sits on a hill overlooking the city center and will soon begin operation.

In many ways, the trauma remains. Villagers surrounding Sinuni must contend with frequent Turkish airstrikes on and around their villages and farms. Traveling at night near the Syrian border can be an invitation to death as Turkish drones might strike cars and convoys. The Turks say they are fighting Kurdish terrorists, but do not in practice differentiate between Kurdish farmers and Kurdistan Workers Party fighters.