Sadiyah

Sadiyah has been the center town of Sadiyah Sub-District since the Ottoman era.^[9] Sadiyah was used as winter pasture by the Kurdish Kalhor and Sanjâbi tribes who would pay pasturage dues to the Ottomans.^[10] As part of the revolt of 1920, Sadiyah fell on 14 August 1920 largely due to the work of the Kurdish Dilo tribe.^[11]

Kurds constituted 50% of the town in the 1947 census^[12] and 40.5% in 1957.^[9] Arabs constituted 47.1% of the population in 1957, while Iraqi Turkmens were 12.4%.^[9] In the 1965 census, Arabs were the majority with 58.4% while Kurds constituted 24.7% and Turkmens were 9.6%.^[13] In the 1977 census, the Arab population increased to 90.2%, while Kurds and Turkmens were 5.1% and 4% respectively.^[14] In 1987, Arabs were 87.8% of the population, Kurds were 16.8% and Turkmens were 5.4%,^[15] while the numbers were 83.1%, 9.9% and 7% for Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens, respectively in 1997.^[16] More recent estimates state that Kurds constituted 38% in 2003 and 12% in 2012.^[17]

After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Kurdistan Region pressured Arab settlers in Khanaqin to settle in Sadiyah which increased the Arab population further.^[7] Peshmerga was deployed to the town in 2011 after request from the federal government in Baghdad to counter the attacks on the local Kurds.^[18] The dire security after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, forced more Kurds to leave the town.^[19][7]

In the early hours of 13 June, ISIS seized Sadiyah, after Iraqi security forces had abandoned their posts. Several villages around the Hamrin Mountains were also captured.^[20][21] Sadiyah was captured by the Popular Mobilization Forces in November 2014.^[22] As of 2018, 80% of the Kurdish population have not returned to the town.^[23]

• Khanaqin
• Jalawla