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The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi and Syria Editions
 ISIS troops hiding amongst civilians fearing arrests I'd say they should be afraid of losing their scrotums if civilians find out who they are Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State members hiding between the displaced families have gone ‘hysterical’ as they feared being arrested by security troops, intelligence sources said. The militants, according to the sources, were begging the families to hide them until they flee Mosul toward the Syrian city of Raqqa. However, the families refused to hide these families due to the oppression they suffered. They reported about all those who belonged to the extremists that some of them reported about their sons who cooperated with these groups, the sources told AlSumaria News on Wednesday. Despite declaring the end of battles in Mosul, some clashes still occur at west of the city, an Iraqi military source was quoted as saying. ISIS wimmin troops arrive in Tal Afar Tal Afar (Iraqinews.com) Women members of the Islamic State sentry teams have made a limited return to some areas of the group’s stronghold town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, a local source in Nineveh province said Wednesday. The source told Alsumaria News that the face-veiled women were deployed around areas where foreign militants and their families reside, adding that those are in charge of searching women entering those areas. Those women are all foreigners, and were deployed by foreign IS leaders to secure their families from possible assaults by their local power rivals as divisions grow among the group’s ranks. IS had previously formed female squads in its vigilante teams, observing locals’ commitment to the group’s extreme religious rules. Islamic State has held Tal Afar since 2014, when it took over a third of Iraq and Syria to establish a self-styled “caliphate”. Iraqi troops declared victory earlier this month over IS in Mosul, after more than eight months of battles to retake the city. Tal Afar, according to statements by Iraqi government and military officials, will be the next target of military operations. So far, operations by pro-government paramilitary troops have recaptured villages surrounding the town and isolated it from the Syrian borders and the rest of the province. ISIS executes smuggler for collaboration with Iraqi forces Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Islamic State has executed one of the main smugglers in Shirqat town, north of Salahuddin, over collaboration with security troops, a local source from the province was quoted as saying. “IS militants executed on Wednesday one of the main smugglers in the western side of Shirqat, north of Salahuddin, over cooperation with security,” the source told AlSumaria News. “The militants claimed that the execution was based on a decision from the so-called legislative court.” Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said, “the militants depend on group of smugglers to secure their needs from some regions that are near the western side of Shirqat.” The execution, according to the source, “comes within rivalry among the militants to seize the smuggling trade as part of its profits are allocated to the support of the group.” The IS terror group has a grip on key areas that link Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk governorates. The eastern coast of Shirqat, which lies on the west bank of the Tigris river in Salahuddin province, is still under the IS control, after liberating the western coast few months ago. In September, Iraqi army said its forces recaptured the town, located south of Mosul, after being surrounded for months by Iraqi troops and the pro-government Shi’ite militias. 13 die in mined residences in Mosul Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Thirteen civilians were killed and wounded in two explosions of booby-trapped houses in western Mosul on Wednesday, a security source told Basnews. Police captain, Amir Watheq, told Basnews that eight civilians were killed and five others were injured after returning to their booby-trapped houses in al-Najar area, west of Mosul, which was liberated two months ago. “The two houses exploded as their owners entered them,” Watheq added, noting that the Islamic State (IS) had booby-trapped many houses in districts of western Mosul during clashes with security forces. Security forces took the injured civilians to hospitals and prevented citizens from returning to areas that may have booby-trapped houses. Mass grave found in Mosul Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) International observers have introduced Human Rights Watch to a site in western Mosul where Iraqi army members allegedly executed civilians, the U.S.-based organization said Wednesday as the Iraqi government grapples with accusations of human rights violations in its war against the Islamic State. “International observers, whose evidence has proven reliable in the past, told Human Rights Watch that on July 17, 2017, at about 3:30 p.m., a shopkeeper in a neighborhood directly west of the Old City that was retaken in April from ISIS took them into an empty building and showed them a row of 17 male corpses, barefoot but in civilian dress, surrounded by pools of blood,” said a report by the organization. “They said many appeared to have been blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their back”. According to HRW, observers quoted the shopkeeper saying he had seen the Iraqi Security Forces’ 16th Division, identifiable by their badges and vehicles, in the neighborhood four nights earlier, and that night had heard multiple gunshots coming from the area of the empty building. “The international observers also saw soldiers from the elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) in the area. They contacted Human Rights Watch by phone from the site and later shared five photos they took of the bodies,” the report read. “As Prime Minister Abadi enjoys victory in Mosul, he is ignoring the flood of evidence of his soldiers committing vicious war crimes in the very city he’s promised to liberate,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Abadi’s victory will collapse unless he takes concrete steps to end the grotesque abuses by his own security forces.” Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State in Mosul earlier this month, ending a three-year occupation by the militant group. But as the military campaign against IS continued from October 2016 to July 11th, human rights groups have regularly urged Baghdad to investigate human rights violations by the Iraqi forces and allied paramilitaries against civilians from opposing religious sects and others suspected of having links with IS. PM Abadi has consistently defended his troops and supporting militias against wrongdoing claims, even urging rights groups to heed integrity in their reporting. 5 refugees found dead of thirst in Hasakah Hasakah (Syria News) Five displaced persons died of thirst, yesterday, after fleeing from the Islamic State-held areas to the southern countryside of Hasakah, local sources told Qasioun News on Wednesday. The sources said that three women and two children died of thirst when the drinking water ran out of them, after fleeing the Islamic State-held areas to the southern countryside of Hasakah. Thousands of civilians flee from the areas held by the radical Islamic State group, due to the ongoing air strikes carried out by Russian and US warplanes, since the beginning of Raqqa offensive. It is noteworthy that the Islamic State militants are preventing civilians from leaving their territory and imposing sanctions, which could lead to the execution of the “smugglers” who move civilians out of the IS-held areas to the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, north of Raqqa and south of Hasakah. Posted by: badanov 2017-07-20 |
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