Yezidi temple in Kurdistan receives half a million dollars from US

A Yezidi temple called Lalish Temple in Kurdistan has received a grant of half a million dollar from the United States for its restoration, according to local media reports. The spiritual home of the Yezidi minority in Duhok was visited but the US Ambassador to Baghdad Mathew Tueller where he met the Yezidi leaders. After taking a tour of the temple he announced the US support in restoring the temple.

Ambassador Tueller visited the #Lalish Temple and met with #Yezidi leaders. After touring the temple, he announced U.S. support to underwrite the renovation work at the Temple. pic.twitter.com/y6s6dqX69X

— U.S. Consulate Erbil (@USConGenErbil) July 18, 2019

The project will be reportedly supervised by Pennsylvania University with some local implementers. The Yezidi faith is among the world's oldest religion. The exact date Lalish was established is unknown. Historians and archaeologists believe the site could be at least 4,000 years old and a part of Sumer and other ancient civilizations.

The Yezidi community has been persecuted by ISIS since 2014 so much so that it was termed as genocide. According to a June 2016 report by the United Nations, more than 400,000 Yazidis have been displaced, captured, or killed since August 2014, when ISIS launched a deadly siege on Yazidis in Mount Sinjar. According to a 2016 report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, "no other religious group" in ISIS-controlled areas "has been subjected to the destruction that the Yazidis have suffered."