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The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi Edtion
 ISIS rob families as they leave Mosul Called confiscatory taxation, coming to a White House/Congress near you (IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – Iraqi media outlets reported on Monday, that militant from the Islamic State stripped Iraqi families of their holdings at the gates of the city of Mosul, while pointed out to the death of three elderly people and a small child as a result of fatigue and exhaustion. Al Sumaria News stated, “Today, ISIS militants put strict checkpoints at the entrances of the city of Mosul for the families that were forcibly brought from the villages liberated by the joint security forces.” “The ISIS detachments stripped the families of all private holdings, including of gold jewelery, money and cell phones,” Al Sumaria added. “Three elderly persons, including a woman, as well as a child died at the entrances of Mosul as a result of fatigue, tiredness and ill-treatment by the ISIS militants,” Al Sumaria explained. The ISIS forced hundreds of families to move from villages near Mosul and rural areas to the city, in order to be used as human shields in the battles against the joint security forces. ISIS endangering civilians in Mosul operation That jaw dropping sound you hear is shock HRW try to didn't hang all this on the Iraqis [ARA News] Erbil – ISIS is endangering civilians by attacking from populated areas, mining civilian territory, and preventing civilians from fleeing Hawija and the outskirts of Mosul in northern Iraq, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported. “Forces attacking ISIS should take all necessary measures to minimize harm to civilians, particularly those that ISIS forces may have deliberately placed at risk,” HRW said on Sunday. “Thousands of civilians are at risk because of military operations in Mosul and Hawija, and all sides are obliged to let families reach safety,” said Lama Fakih, HRW’s deputy Middle East director. “ISIS needs to let people leave and anti-ISIS forces should take into account the many civilians trapped in areas under attack.” It’s however unlikely that ISIS will allow civilians to leave since that would allow Kurdish and Iraqi forces to take Mosul more quickly and it could facilitate the US-led coalition’s airstrikes. In other operations, like in Manbij of northern Syria, ISIS used civilians as human shields to slow down the operation. One displaced villager, Ali Ahmed, on October 20 told HRW that ISIS used his house in the village of al-Adla when Iraqi forces attacked the group. “As the [Iraqi] army got closer, three ISIS fighters entered my house. I couldn’t tell them to leave my house because they could have killed me and hurt my family,” Ahmed said. “Thank God my house was not targeted. Once ISIS fighters retreated from the village toward Mosul, we raised a white flag so the army doesn’t target our house.” 20 residents from villages under ISIS control in Makhmur district told HRW that fighters were firing artillery next to their homes, subjecting them to return fire. Also ISIS deployed fighters near schools, leading to air strikes. Furthermore, ISIS militants do not allow men to flee, and allow women and children only to leave if they pay $400 dollar per person, while their area is full with improvised mines. A civilian called Mohammed said that to leave Hawija, he had to pay smugglers $500 to avoid explosive devices that ISIS planted around the city, where they saw civilians killed by mines. Improvised mines planted by ISIS have posed a significant threat to civilians in other places that were under ISIS control, including Ramadi and Fallujah in Iraq, and Kobane and Manbij in Syria. “Even if ISIS keeps its unlawful grip on civilians trying to flee the fighting, other military forces should fulfill their obligations to civilians under the laws of war,” Fakih said. “This includes educating and protecting people from the deadly effects of improvised mines.” The Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi Army troops on October 17 launched an operation to retake the city of Mosul. Anti-ISIS forces have also encircled the city of Hawija, 120 kilometers southeast of Mosul. ISIS executes 5 in Rutba [AlArabiya] ISIS “executed” five Iraqis, including members of the security forces, during ongoing fighting in the western town of Rutba, army officers said Monday. Militants launched an attack on Rutba, a remote but strategic town near the Jordanian border in Anbar province, early on Sunday. They briefly seized the mayor’s office before being pinned back by the security forces but were still deployed in some other neighborhoods of the town, the officers said. “Daesh (ISIS) controls Mithaq and Intisar neighborhoods in central Rutba,” an army colonel told AFP. “They captured people -- civilians and policemen -- and executed them,” he said. “At least five people were executed” on Sunday, the colonel said. Lieutenant General Ismail al-Mahalawi, head of the Operations Command for the western Anbar province, confirmed the executions but said Iraqi forces were regaining the upper hand. “Military units from the (army) 8th division and a brigade from Anbar Operations Command moved to Rutba, redeploying there to clear the positions Daesh control in the city,” he said. The attack on Rutba was seen as a fresh attempt by ISIS to draw attention and Iraqi military resources away from Mosul, which is their last major stronghold in the country. Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched an offensive on Mosul a week ago. ISIS is vastly outnumbered and the outcome of the battle appears to be in little doubt. The militants are offering stiff resistance however and launching attacks elsewhere in the country to mobilize Iraqi forces on several fronts. On Friday, dozens of jihadist fighters launched a spectacular attack on the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk that killed at least 46 people, most of them members of the security forces. The Joint Operations Command overseeing the fight against ISIS in Iraq said that jihadists launched their attack on Rutba at dawn on Sunday. After forcing the attackers out of the mayor’s office, Iraqi forces destroyed 12 ISIS vehicles, killing their occupants, the JOC said in a statement. Iraqi forces have in recent months retaken a lot of ground from ISIS in Anbar, a vast Sunni province which has long been considered an insurgent bastion and has borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. ISIS fighters only control areas near the Syria border but are still able to move in desert areas and harass government forces in the province’s town and cities. Posted by: badanov 2016-10-25 |
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