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The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi Edition
 ISIS blocks refugees fleeing Anbar Waidaminnit! I thought Anbar was liberated! Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State militants are preventing civilians in Anbar from leaving the province to use them as future human shields against assaults by government and popular militias, Al-Hashed al-Shaabi force commander there said Sunday. Nazem al-Jugheifi was quoted as saying in statements that people from the western towns of Annah, Rawa and al-Qaem are being from leaving home, knowing that security forces and supporting militias would invade those regions. “ISIS elements have totally closed the entrances and exits of all the western region under their control, a step meant to lock up civilians to use them as human shields before the security forces and supporting troops,” Jugheifi said, adding that the militants had also dug several tunnels to hinder the advancement of troops. ISIS is struggling to defend their diminishing strongholds in Iraq as Iraqi government troops, US-led international coalition forces and tribal militias continue to attack their locations. The group has been reportedly taking civilians hostages, most notably in the city of Mosul, a tactic that, according to Iraqi security officials, slows down the pace of operations and requires extra caution to preserve civilians’ safety. 2 Mass graves found near Mosul [AlArabiya] Two mass graves of at least 18 members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, thousands of whom have been killed and kidnapped by ISIS, have been discovered as security forces fight to dislodge the militants from Mosul, a local official said. Kurdish peshmerga forces found the grave near the Shababit junction in northwestern Iraq while scouting the area. It contained bones and identity cards that appeared to have been covered over with sandy earth by a bulldozer. ISIS systematically killed, captured and enslaved thousands of Yazidis in the summer of 2014 as they overran the Sinjar area, where many of them lived. United Nations investigators have said that constitutes genocide. The mayor of Sinjar, Mahma Xelil, said the latest discovery brought the number of Yazidi mass graves found so far to 29, estimating the total would rise to more than 40 as the militants are driven back further. Numbering about 400,000 people, Yazidis are a religious sect whose beliefs combine elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions and are considered “devil-worshippers” by the extremist militants. The Office of Kidnapped Affairs in Duhok, a department backed by the Kurdistan regional government, says about 3,500 Yazidis are believed to still live in areas controlled by ISIS, many of them women and children. Last Wednesday, 18 escaped from the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq as Shi’ite paramilitaries cut it off from the south and west. Posted by: badanov 2016-11-28 |
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