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The Beatings Will Continue: Mosul and Raqqa Edition
ISIS executes 8 in Mosul

(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Nineveh Province announced on Thursday killing five members of the so-called ISIS by an artillery shelling in Bashiqa northeast of Mosul (405 km north of Baghdad), while pointed out that ISIS executed eight of its fighters for not joining the combat axes in the city center.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan spokesman in Mosul, Ghyath Alsurja, said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The artillery of the Peshmerga forces that were stationed on Bashiqa Mountain north of Mosul targeted ISIS gathering in the district.”

Alsurja added, “The bombing resulted in the killing of five members of the so-called ISIS, as well as destructing two military vehicles,” indicating that, “ISIS executed eight of its members in Nineveh Province on charges of not joining the combat axes.”

“The death sentence was carried out by firing squad in the old jail in Nineveh,” Alsurja continued.

Islamic State using civilians as human shields in Raqqa

[ARA News] RAQQA – Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) is using civilians as human shields in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa province, in a bid to impede the ongoing progress by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), activists reported on Thursday.

Backed by the US-led coalition’s air cover, the SDF has been advancing against ISIS militants in the northern countryside of Raqqa province over the past few days.

“ISIS has forced hundreds of civilians to stay inside buildings in central Raqqa that used to be security centres for the radical group. Many people are locked inside those locations,” local sources told ARA News in Raqqa, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Several buildings of al-Hisba police and Sharia institutions have been filled with civilians in Raqqa city, according to media activist Salman al-Hamwi.

“The main goal is that the SDF-led shelling and US-led airstrikes kill as much civilians as possible. ISIS is trying to increase the civilian casualties to claim that the western-backed SDF are targeting peaceful people,” al-Hamwi told ARA News.

Also, in the villages of Tal Shahin, al-Adriya and Mlehan north of Raqqa civilians were prevented from escaping their houses.

“Hundreds of villagers in Mlehan, Tal Shahin and al-Adriya are held hostage by ISIS militants, who are engaged in clashes with SDF forces in the vicinity of those villages,” SDF officer Habun Osman told ARA News on the phone.

“We are aware of such barbaric tactics by ISIS terrorists. We’re trying to avoid using heavy weapons at such fronts to prevent civilian casualties,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Kurdish-led SDF alliance recaptured four villages and towns in northern Raqqa–the de facto capital of the Islamic State. Subsequent to clashes with ISIS militant fighters, the SDF alliance liberated the villages of Qartaja, al-Fastah, Indebin and Matmasraja.

“The battle for northern Raqqa has started, and our advance will continue until we cleanse the entire province from ISIS,” Osman said.

The western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday afternoon launched an operation to capture the countryside of Raqqa from the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

“Cleansing these territories from ISIS starts now from the north of Raqqa,” Kurdish Defence Minister of the Rojava Auto-Administration told ARA News in Kobane.
Posted by: badanov 2016-05-27
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=457261