Questions that need answering:
Why did the coalition 'liberate' a city that had not asked to be liberated?
How many innocent civilians have vanished during the 'liberation' of Fallujah?
How many innocent civilians have been slaughtered during the 'liberation' of Fallujah?
How many innocent Yazidis were killed in attacks on ISIS during their retreat?
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Fallujah Updates: Following the people and the suffering
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Re: Fallujah Updates: Following the people and the suffering
Author: Anthea » Tue Jul 05, 2016 2:38 am
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Re: Fallujah Updates: Following the people and the suffering
Author: Anthea » Wed Jul 06, 2016 8:10 pm
An open source analysis of the Fallujah ‘convoy massacre’
By Christiaan Triebert
From June 28 to June 29, aircraft of both the international Coalition (CJTF-OIR) and the Republic of Iraq targeted two large convoys of alleged Islamic State (IS) vehicles as they fled the outskirts of Fallujah in central Iraq. Concerns have been raised that the convoys were carrying not only IS militants, but also their family members that may have been killed in the attacks.
This analysis aims to provide a clearer overview of the events of June 29 and June 30, 2016 by cross-referencing all open source information available. This includes geolocations of footage released by both the international Coalition and the Iraqi Ministry of Defence (MoD), official statements, and media reports, especially a Washington Post (WaPo) article by Mustafa Salim and Thomas Gibbons-Neff (link) and Arnaud Delalande’s write-up in War Is Boring for which he interviewed Iraqi military pilots (link).
The situation in and around Fallujah
For over two and-a-half years, Fallujah was under the control of the so-called Islamic State. In the last days of June 2016, a combination of Iraqi forces managed to recapture the city following a month-long offensive. Despite that the city is now largely cleared from IS fighters, Iraqi forces still clash with some of them in the outskirts of the city.
Eissa al-Issawi, the mayor of Fallujah, said that he had obtained information that IS fighters would try to escape these outskirts and notified the Iraqi military, according to the WaPo-article. The first combination of airstrikes followed soon in an area south of Fallujah, where IS fighters allegedly had gathered to leave the city.
It is important to note that this was the first air attack on a convoy. From all open source information available, it is clear that there were at least two convoys: one north of the Euphrates River and one south of it. Therefore, this overview is structured along the lines of the two identified convoys: the northern convoy and the southern convoy.
The southern convoy
In the night of June 28, between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM, Iraq’s military intelligence detected “the movement of numerous vehicles from Fallujah in a southwesterly direction along the road to Amiriyat Fallujah”, Delalande writes. Not much later Iraqi army helicopters continued to track the vehicles when “intelligence reports indicated that [IS] militants were fleeing Fallujah — seemingly explaining the huge convoy.”
The size of the convoy was according to Iraqi official sources around 11 kilometres long. That the convoy was indeed massive, can be seen in the following video that was tweeted by the official English-language account of the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organisation composed of around 40 (mainly Shia) militias.
Interestingly, the video reveals much information as it shows the indicators for the aircraft on the right (ACFT; 33°16’18″N/43°37’51″E) and indicators for the target on the left (TGT; 55NM at 125° southeast). That means the helicopter was flying here, southwest of Fallujah, when it was filming the convoy a bit further southeast of the helicopter’s position.
The Iraqis subsequently informed their American colleagues, but CJTF-OIR “denied permission for its warplanes to attack the area in question, as the vehicles in question could be carrying civilians.” As a result, Delalande writes, Iraqi pilots took the initiative themselves and gained permission to attack from their superiors in Najaf a few hours later, with the “first two helicopters took off at 1:30 in the morning on June 29.”
Delalande’s information of Iraqi military pilots can be cross-referenced with official Iraqi MoD publications related to the attacks on its Facebook page and YouTube channel, which both state that the attacks started “exactly at 1:20 AM” (Arabic: “وتحديداً الساعة الواحدة وعشرين دقيقة”).
Besides, parts of the Iraqi MoD video compilation can be geolocated in the Hasai area (Wikimapia link) — a region southwest of Fallujah and on the road to Amiriyat Fallujah.
The 13 photos uploaded to the Iraqi MoD’s official Facebook page of the alleged aftermath on “over 426” IS vehicles in “the desert west of Amiriyat Fallujah” can also be geolocated to the Hasai area.
In addition to these geolocations in the Hasai area, the WaPo’s account also mentions the area, though spells it as “Hussay” and claims it is “northwest of Fallujah” from which vehicles fled towards the Syrian border. Though the name is correct (the Arabic name ‘الحصي’ can be transcribed to the Latin script in several ways), there is no “Hussay” north of Fallujah. Therefore, it appears that WaPo in fact refers to the same area as Delalande and the Iraqi MoD.
The attacks “lasted hours”, according to the Iraqi pilots interviewed by Delalande, and ”destroyed more than half the convoy, killing dozens of militants.” In the Iraqi MoD video, which includes footage from the aftermath from the ground, shows indeed a few bodies but more even more clothes.
Several of the photos that appeared on social media, “clearly show that the convoy consisted of a mixture of civilian and military vehicles”, according to Delalande. Important to note is that the convoy also attacked the Iraqi aircraft, as the first 55 seconds of the Iraqi MoD video show. That footage has not been geolocated so far, but is likely to be from southwest Fallujah.
One the Iraqi MoD compilation video mentioned earlier, a large number of M79 Osa anti-tank unguided rockets is visible in the back of a small truck, as well as other weapons in another truck.
Other vehicles allegedly used for military purposes were also destroyed, such as “several bulldozers and a large number of so-called technicals” but other than that there is no footage of military vehicles. There is a possibility, Delalande rightly notes, that some of the vehicles carried the families of IS fighters — “which is apparently why the [US] initially refused to take part in the operation.”
But the convoy south of Fallujah was not the only convoy to be attacked on June 29, as geolocations of the videos and photos reveal, as well as the Delalande’s interview with Iraqi military pilots.
The northern convoy
A second round of airstrikes hit a different convoy of “around 30 vehicles [driving] in a northwesterly” (Delalande) in the “Albu Bali neighbo[u]rhood” (WaPo), which is northwest of Fallujah.
WaPo cites a leader of local Sunni tribal fighters, Sheikh Faisal al-Issawi, who claimed they were contacted via walkie-talkie as an IS convoy neared their lines. The IS fighters said they did not come here to fight but wanted to pass through towards the desert. Al-Issawi attacked the convoy anyway, he says.
The location mentioned can be successfully cross-referenced with a part of the video released by the Iraqi MoD, thanks to a geolocation from Twitter user @obretix. From 0:55 to 1:23, the video shows a road in the desert northwest of Fallujah, north of the “Albu Bali” area (exact location on Wikimapia).
The Coalition also released a video on their official YouTube channel, saying it shows airstrikes on “[IS] fighters fleeing in a convoy near Habbaniyah, Iraq”. Habbaniyah is a town between Albu Bali and Fallujah. The location shown in the video was geolocated by Twitter user @Luxfero_99, just a few meters from the area geolocated above in the Iraqi MoD video.
A statement of the MoD of the United Kingdom (UK) can also be cross-referenced with the events. On June 29 a Eurofighter Typhoon and two MQ-9 Reapers struck IS “terrorist[s] retreating from Fallujah”:
A Typhoon struck two vehicles and a large group of extremists with Paveway IV bombs west of Fallujah and two Reapers destroyed a further four vehicles and a group of fighters, using Hellfire missiles and a GBU-12 guided bomb. One Reaper observed the Daesh vehicles refusing to stop and pick up fellow armed extremists trying to escape on foot.
Two days after the attack, on July 1, the Iraqi MoD published a video showing the aftermath of the airstrikes from a ground perspective. The video shows the same section of the convoy as shown in the Iraqi MoD video from the air, as @obretix noted, and is thus a destroyed part of the northern convoy.
Both videos of this location do not show any military vehicles or small trucks with mounted guns. However, what appears to be the remains of a AKS short assault rifle (2), “given the folding stock”, can be spotted next to a teapot and a frying pan (1) in the Iraqi MoD video from the ground.
A part of the northern convoy was clearly destroyed, but what happened to the part of the convoy that was not destroyed and got away, is fuzzy. Delalande writes that reports came in that IS militants were killing civilians east of Ramadi. On June 30, the Iraqi army deployed several Bell 407 scout helicopters and Mil Mi-28 gunships to ease the situation. The Iraqi aircraft came under fire, and subsequently the US Air Force ordered all helicopters to vacate the area, making place for CJTF-OIR fighter-bombers.
In the hours that followed, the “Iraqi army aviation flew dozens of medical evacuation sorties with […], evacuating injured civilians from the vicinity of the coalition’s air rads, including many children.” CJTF-OIR spokesperson Col. Christopher Garver stated later that day that the Coalition had struck “two major Islamic State convoys fleeing Fallujah over the last two days.”
Unlike the other combination of airstrikes, this round on the northern convoy was reported by civilians on the ground. On Facebook, the page ‘iraqi revolution’ posted that “the martyrdom and wounding of dozens of displaced families from Tarrah [Arabic: الطراح] to Ramadi Island [Arabic: جزيرة الرمادي], after the government and international aircraft targeted their vehicles.”
Airwars, a transparency project that tracks and archives the international air war against IS and other groups in both Iraq and Syria, puts the number of reported civilian casualties on 12 or more for the June 30 strikes near Ramadi, but labels the quality of reporting as “contested”. Airwars cross-referenced this event with an official report of the UK MoD:
[i]With Daesh forces continuing to flee in defeat from their former stronghold of Fallujah, on Thursday 30 June Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s patrolled over the desert of Anbar province and located a group of terrorist vehicles a number of miles to the south-west of Ramadi. Attacks with four Brimstone missiles and a Paveway IV guided bomb successfully accounted for five trucks.
What the official reports of the Coalition do not mention is the number of fighters killed, though there are reports that there may be civilian casualties.
Alleged civilian casualties
The Iraqi MoD claims “hundreds” of IS fighters had been killed, while media reports suggest a lower number of around 250. It is hard to give an estimate of killed persons based on open source information, especially because all videos and photos show a minimal number of bodies.
Concerns have been raised about who have been killed: was it just IS fighters or were civilians also part of the convoy? Coalition spokesperson Garver said that this was indeed the reason why their aircraft had avoided a part of the convoy as they believed it could carry civilians.
In the Iraqi MoD video at least two men can be seen carrying what appear to be Kalashnikov assault rifles, though the locations have not been verified to either the southern or the northern convoy so far.
The spokesperson of the Iraqi MoD claimed no women had been killed in the airstrikes, though own video showed the body of a dead child near the location of the northern convoy.
The director of Airwars, Chris Woods, tells Bellingcat that incidents like these, where enemy forces flee en masse, are rare. But when such events occur, the claims that civilians were present “makes sense”. Woods says they might have been ordinary citizens trying to escape Fallujah, but thinks it is more likely that they were family members of IS militants. But, as Woods stresses, this does not change their status as non-combatants.
One of the unclarities of the events are the civilian deaths reported on June 30. It is unclear whether they are due to IS, the Coalition, or Iraq. Perhaps we will never know. “We still don’t know how many civilians died during the Highway of Death in Kuwait. Similarly, we may never know how many civilians died in the recent events, especially if the non-combatants were [IS] family members. They are non-combatants under international law, but whether they have been granted that status in reality is another question.”
Number of vehicles destroyed
The number of vehicles destroyed varies significantly between the official statements of the authorities. This is a table with the different numbers that have been mentioned.
Humanitarian convoy
Besides the southern and the northern convoy struck by airstrikes, there was another convoy: a humanitarian one of an aid agency named Preemptive Love. At least two trucks were transporting “100,000 pounds of food for those who fled Fallujah” and were now stranded in camps around the city on the evening of June 28, an article on the organisation’s website reads.Humanitarian convoy
But as the night fell, two trucks got stuck in “a massive rut”. The team split, one heading back to Baghdad and the other staying with the trucks. A little later, the team that stayed heard gunfire and “saw flashes of rocket fire in the distance”. Being in contact with the other part of the team that reached an Iraqi army checkpoint near Amiriyat Fallujah, they learned IS had “launched a counterattack” with vehicles moving in their direction:
The team guarding the trucks climbed down into a nearby ditch and pulled sand over themselves as ISIS vehicles began passing on the road. Our team leader counted about 80 vehicles with fighters bearing small arms.
Meanwhile, the other part of the team was still near the Iraqi army checkpoint but could not move further due to a lock-down as the fighting between Iraqi forces and IS continued. Just after dawn, they claim an airstrike from a Coalition aircraft hit very close to their position:
“We could hear the missiles coming on top of our heads,” said one of our team members. “After the first airstrike, we started running, trying to reach the checkpoint. But the soldiers aimed their guns at us and told us to stay back.”
Another round of airstrikes followed. Back at the aid organisations’ office they tweeted the last known coordinates of their team to the American embassy in Baghdad and US Central Command, while a reporter called her military contacts to alert the US. That worked, according to Matthew Willingham, the organisation’s senior field editor: the Coalition “stopped short of acknowledging strikes at the exact coordinates we gave gave them.”
US forces have admitted they were conducting airstrikes on IS convoys in the area, according to Willingham. This is interesting as this is the southern convoy, of which the Coalition did not release any footage.
Since the attacks, access between Baghdad and the Iraqi province of Anbar has been even more restrictive than it already was, WaPo writes. As a result, humanitarian agencies are unable to deliver humanitarian supplies for “the tens of thousands” that have fled Fallujah and “are now stranded in desert camps”.
Analysis of open source information
Given all the open source information available concerning the incidents, several issues arise.
First of all is the confusion surrounding the events, which is not only indicated by the alleged airstrikes on the humanitarian organisations, but also by a tweet of the Coalition’s spokesperson. He tweeted several times about multiple convoys at multiple locations. With the above information, it seems highly likely that these convoys were probably the same: “east of Ramadi” is “near Habbaniyah”, while the spokesperson even tweets that is “southwest of Fallujah” (which it is not). To clear things up, here is an overview of the geolocated airstrikes on convoys around Fallujah.
As with regards to the northern convoy, the CJTF-OIR video sheem to show the convoy as being stationary, while the vehicles in the Iraqi MoD video were clearly driving. What is further noteworthy that in all videos not many bodies can be seen. Open source information cannot make this issue clearer, unfortunately.
What else is remarkable is that both convoys managed to leave from Fallujah, while there were only two humanitarian corridors opened, one north and one south, where males were detained for processing. The humanitarian corridors are shown in blue on the Institute for the Study of War map below (note: the map shows the situation as of June 17, IS territorial control was heavily decreased by June 28).
How, then, did the convoys leave the city on lockdown? This is especially significant for the southern convoy, which, if it really came out of Fallujah city, must have crossed the Euphrates River. The most recent available commercial satellite imagery via TerraServer shows that only two bridges leading out of Fallujah were still intact – all other bridges in the vicinity of Fallujah were destroyed as of June 5, 2016.
According to Fallujah’s mayor al-Issawi, IS fighters that had fled Fallujah gathered in Hassai. If this is indeed the case, it means that the convoy would not have had to cross the Euphrates with vehicles. But even if that would be the case, such a massive convoy would not have attempted to flee without assurances that the army would not fight them, al-Issawi is cited as saying in WaPo: “They wouldn’t take such a risk unless they had a deal with some side […] Why would they drive more than 500 cars in an exposed agricultural area?”
In the past, Iraqi forces have left open escape routes for IS militants to escape the urban areas and go into the desert, according to WaPo. But the Iraqi MoD’s spokesperson Rasoul dismissed that claim as “nonsense”.
Conclusion
A survey of the open source information available shows us that at least two convoys were attacked by aircraft of both Iraq and the Coalition.
One convoy was travelling from Fallujah in southwesterly direction when it was struck several times by Iraqi aircraft in the early morning of June 29. In the same area, a humanitarian convoy claims to have been targeted by Coalition aircraft as well. The Coalition has made statements both saying they did strike in that area as well as statements that said they were not.
A second convoy was travelling from Fallujah in northwesterly direction when it was struck north of the Albu Bali area by both Iraqi and Coalition aircraft later that day on June 29. A part of the convoy appears to have been struck again a day later, closer to Ramadi.
However, there are limitations to this open source approach, and there are still unanswered questions. How did the convoys managed to escape a city on lockdown? Who harmed the civilians near Ramadi that were airlifted by the Iraqi military’s aviation? Does this explain the lack of bodies shown on the videos? Why did the Iraqis attack the southern convoy despite a warning about civilians of the Coalition? Why was a humanitarian convoy allegedly targeted in the same area by Coalition aircraft nonetheless?
The author would like to express thank to the following Twitter users: @obretix in specific for his contributions to this article, as well as @Luxfero_99, @green_lemonnn, @Mr_Ghostly, and @ain92ru for the information they shared.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/20 ... massacres/
By Christiaan Triebert
From June 28 to June 29, aircraft of both the international Coalition (CJTF-OIR) and the Republic of Iraq targeted two large convoys of alleged Islamic State (IS) vehicles as they fled the outskirts of Fallujah in central Iraq. Concerns have been raised that the convoys were carrying not only IS militants, but also their family members that may have been killed in the attacks.
This analysis aims to provide a clearer overview of the events of June 29 and June 30, 2016 by cross-referencing all open source information available. This includes geolocations of footage released by both the international Coalition and the Iraqi Ministry of Defence (MoD), official statements, and media reports, especially a Washington Post (WaPo) article by Mustafa Salim and Thomas Gibbons-Neff (link) and Arnaud Delalande’s write-up in War Is Boring for which he interviewed Iraqi military pilots (link).
The situation in and around Fallujah
For over two and-a-half years, Fallujah was under the control of the so-called Islamic State. In the last days of June 2016, a combination of Iraqi forces managed to recapture the city following a month-long offensive. Despite that the city is now largely cleared from IS fighters, Iraqi forces still clash with some of them in the outskirts of the city.
Eissa al-Issawi, the mayor of Fallujah, said that he had obtained information that IS fighters would try to escape these outskirts and notified the Iraqi military, according to the WaPo-article. The first combination of airstrikes followed soon in an area south of Fallujah, where IS fighters allegedly had gathered to leave the city.
It is important to note that this was the first air attack on a convoy. From all open source information available, it is clear that there were at least two convoys: one north of the Euphrates River and one south of it. Therefore, this overview is structured along the lines of the two identified convoys: the northern convoy and the southern convoy.
The southern convoy
In the night of June 28, between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM, Iraq’s military intelligence detected “the movement of numerous vehicles from Fallujah in a southwesterly direction along the road to Amiriyat Fallujah”, Delalande writes. Not much later Iraqi army helicopters continued to track the vehicles when “intelligence reports indicated that [IS] militants were fleeing Fallujah — seemingly explaining the huge convoy.”
The size of the convoy was according to Iraqi official sources around 11 kilometres long. That the convoy was indeed massive, can be seen in the following video that was tweeted by the official English-language account of the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organisation composed of around 40 (mainly Shia) militias.
#Iraqi Army Aviation footage showing the longest #ISIS convoy at 11km long before it was decimated by #Iraqi forces pic.twitter.com/6fRkyUlhsM
— Iraqi PMU English (@pmu_english)
Interestingly, the video reveals much information as it shows the indicators for the aircraft on the right (ACFT; 33°16’18″N/43°37’51″E) and indicators for the target on the left (TGT; 55NM at 125° southeast). That means the helicopter was flying here, southwest of Fallujah, when it was filming the convoy a bit further southeast of the helicopter’s position.
The Iraqis subsequently informed their American colleagues, but CJTF-OIR “denied permission for its warplanes to attack the area in question, as the vehicles in question could be carrying civilians.” As a result, Delalande writes, Iraqi pilots took the initiative themselves and gained permission to attack from their superiors in Najaf a few hours later, with the “first two helicopters took off at 1:30 in the morning on June 29.”
Delalande’s information of Iraqi military pilots can be cross-referenced with official Iraqi MoD publications related to the attacks on its Facebook page and YouTube channel, which both state that the attacks started “exactly at 1:20 AM” (Arabic: “وتحديداً الساعة الواحدة وعشرين دقيقة”).
Besides, parts of the Iraqi MoD video compilation can be geolocated in the Hasai area (Wikimapia link) — a region southwest of Fallujah and on the road to Amiriyat Fallujah.
geolocation of an attack on cars [2:45-3:20] from this video https://t.co/BBhlhqCluo https://t.co/Xm4sYFoojX pic.twitter.com/7S2nPPNJCA
— Samir (@obretix)
@Alex_de_M @trbrtc @obretix
It's probably here.https://t.co/hNJhqYntnz pic.twitter.com/myO6gwwsZT
— הילל (@Luxfero_99)
The 13 photos uploaded to the Iraqi MoD’s official Facebook page of the alleged aftermath on “over 426” IS vehicles in “the desert west of Amiriyat Fallujah” can also be geolocated to the Hasai area.
In addition to these geolocations in the Hasai area, the WaPo’s account also mentions the area, though spells it as “Hussay” and claims it is “northwest of Fallujah” from which vehicles fled towards the Syrian border. Though the name is correct (the Arabic name ‘الحصي’ can be transcribed to the Latin script in several ways), there is no “Hussay” north of Fallujah. Therefore, it appears that WaPo in fact refers to the same area as Delalande and the Iraqi MoD.
The attacks “lasted hours”, according to the Iraqi pilots interviewed by Delalande, and ”destroyed more than half the convoy, killing dozens of militants.” In the Iraqi MoD video, which includes footage from the aftermath from the ground, shows indeed a few bodies but more even more clothes.
Several of the photos that appeared on social media, “clearly show that the convoy consisted of a mixture of civilian and military vehicles”, according to Delalande. Important to note is that the convoy also attacked the Iraqi aircraft, as the first 55 seconds of the Iraqi MoD video show. That footage has not been geolocated so far, but is likely to be from southwest Fallujah.
One the Iraqi MoD compilation video mentioned earlier, a large number of M79 Osa anti-tank unguided rockets is visible in the back of a small truck, as well as other weapons in another truck.
Other vehicles allegedly used for military purposes were also destroyed, such as “several bulldozers and a large number of so-called technicals” but other than that there is no footage of military vehicles. There is a possibility, Delalande rightly notes, that some of the vehicles carried the families of IS fighters — “which is apparently why the [US] initially refused to take part in the operation.”
But the convoy south of Fallujah was not the only convoy to be attacked on June 29, as geolocations of the videos and photos reveal, as well as the Delalande’s interview with Iraqi military pilots.
The northern convoy
A second round of airstrikes hit a different convoy of “around 30 vehicles [driving] in a northwesterly” (Delalande) in the “Albu Bali neighbo[u]rhood” (WaPo), which is northwest of Fallujah.
WaPo cites a leader of local Sunni tribal fighters, Sheikh Faisal al-Issawi, who claimed they were contacted via walkie-talkie as an IS convoy neared their lines. The IS fighters said they did not come here to fight but wanted to pass through towards the desert. Al-Issawi attacked the convoy anyway, he says.
The location mentioned can be successfully cross-referenced with a part of the video released by the Iraqi MoD, thanks to a geolocation from Twitter user @obretix. From 0:55 to 1:23, the video shows a road in the desert northwest of Fallujah, north of the “Albu Bali” area (exact location on Wikimapia).
aftermath of coalition airstrike northwest of Fallujah [0:55-1:23] https://t.co/IKjHGFPvGY https://t.co/nbJlu0IL47 pic.twitter.com/A0PgHXpbDM
— Samir (@obretix)
The Coalition also released a video on their official YouTube channel, saying it shows airstrikes on “[IS] fighters fleeing in a convoy near Habbaniyah, Iraq”. Habbaniyah is a town between Albu Bali and Fallujah. The location shown in the video was geolocated by Twitter user @Luxfero_99, just a few meters from the area geolocated above in the Iraqi MoD video.
A statement of the MoD of the United Kingdom (UK) can also be cross-referenced with the events. On June 29 a Eurofighter Typhoon and two MQ-9 Reapers struck IS “terrorist[s] retreating from Fallujah”:
A Typhoon struck two vehicles and a large group of extremists with Paveway IV bombs west of Fallujah and two Reapers destroyed a further four vehicles and a group of fighters, using Hellfire missiles and a GBU-12 guided bomb. One Reaper observed the Daesh vehicles refusing to stop and pick up fellow armed extremists trying to escape on foot.
Two days after the attack, on July 1, the Iraqi MoD published a video showing the aftermath of the airstrikes from a ground perspective. The video shows the same section of the convoy as shown in the Iraqi MoD video from the air, as @obretix noted, and is thus a destroyed part of the northern convoy.
Both videos of this location do not show any military vehicles or small trucks with mounted guns. However, what appears to be the remains of a AKS short assault rifle (2), “given the folding stock”, can be spotted next to a teapot and a frying pan (1) in the Iraqi MoD video from the ground.
A part of the northern convoy was clearly destroyed, but what happened to the part of the convoy that was not destroyed and got away, is fuzzy. Delalande writes that reports came in that IS militants were killing civilians east of Ramadi. On June 30, the Iraqi army deployed several Bell 407 scout helicopters and Mil Mi-28 gunships to ease the situation. The Iraqi aircraft came under fire, and subsequently the US Air Force ordered all helicopters to vacate the area, making place for CJTF-OIR fighter-bombers.
In the hours that followed, the “Iraqi army aviation flew dozens of medical evacuation sorties with […], evacuating injured civilians from the vicinity of the coalition’s air rads, including many children.” CJTF-OIR spokesperson Col. Christopher Garver stated later that day that the Coalition had struck “two major Islamic State convoys fleeing Fallujah over the last two days.”
Unlike the other combination of airstrikes, this round on the northern convoy was reported by civilians on the ground. On Facebook, the page ‘iraqi revolution’ posted that “the martyrdom and wounding of dozens of displaced families from Tarrah [Arabic: الطراح] to Ramadi Island [Arabic: جزيرة الرمادي], after the government and international aircraft targeted their vehicles.”
Airwars, a transparency project that tracks and archives the international air war against IS and other groups in both Iraq and Syria, puts the number of reported civilian casualties on 12 or more for the June 30 strikes near Ramadi, but labels the quality of reporting as “contested”. Airwars cross-referenced this event with an official report of the UK MoD:
[i]With Daesh forces continuing to flee in defeat from their former stronghold of Fallujah, on Thursday 30 June Royal Air Force Tornado GR4s patrolled over the desert of Anbar province and located a group of terrorist vehicles a number of miles to the south-west of Ramadi. Attacks with four Brimstone missiles and a Paveway IV guided bomb successfully accounted for five trucks.
What the official reports of the Coalition do not mention is the number of fighters killed, though there are reports that there may be civilian casualties.
Alleged civilian casualties
The Iraqi MoD claims “hundreds” of IS fighters had been killed, while media reports suggest a lower number of around 250. It is hard to give an estimate of killed persons based on open source information, especially because all videos and photos show a minimal number of bodies.
Concerns have been raised about who have been killed: was it just IS fighters or were civilians also part of the convoy? Coalition spokesperson Garver said that this was indeed the reason why their aircraft had avoided a part of the convoy as they believed it could carry civilians.
In the Iraqi MoD video at least two men can be seen carrying what appear to be Kalashnikov assault rifles, though the locations have not been verified to either the southern or the northern convoy so far.
The spokesperson of the Iraqi MoD claimed no women had been killed in the airstrikes, though own video showed the body of a dead child near the location of the northern convoy.
The director of Airwars, Chris Woods, tells Bellingcat that incidents like these, where enemy forces flee en masse, are rare. But when such events occur, the claims that civilians were present “makes sense”. Woods says they might have been ordinary citizens trying to escape Fallujah, but thinks it is more likely that they were family members of IS militants. But, as Woods stresses, this does not change their status as non-combatants.
One of the unclarities of the events are the civilian deaths reported on June 30. It is unclear whether they are due to IS, the Coalition, or Iraq. Perhaps we will never know. “We still don’t know how many civilians died during the Highway of Death in Kuwait. Similarly, we may never know how many civilians died in the recent events, especially if the non-combatants were [IS] family members. They are non-combatants under international law, but whether they have been granted that status in reality is another question.”
Number of vehicles destroyed
The number of vehicles destroyed varies significantly between the official statements of the authorities. This is a table with the different numbers that have been mentioned.
Humanitarian convoy
Besides the southern and the northern convoy struck by airstrikes, there was another convoy: a humanitarian one of an aid agency named Preemptive Love. At least two trucks were transporting “100,000 pounds of food for those who fled Fallujah” and were now stranded in camps around the city on the evening of June 28, an article on the organisation’s website reads.Humanitarian convoy
But as the night fell, two trucks got stuck in “a massive rut”. The team split, one heading back to Baghdad and the other staying with the trucks. A little later, the team that stayed heard gunfire and “saw flashes of rocket fire in the distance”. Being in contact with the other part of the team that reached an Iraqi army checkpoint near Amiriyat Fallujah, they learned IS had “launched a counterattack” with vehicles moving in their direction:
The team guarding the trucks climbed down into a nearby ditch and pulled sand over themselves as ISIS vehicles began passing on the road. Our team leader counted about 80 vehicles with fighters bearing small arms.
Meanwhile, the other part of the team was still near the Iraqi army checkpoint but could not move further due to a lock-down as the fighting between Iraqi forces and IS continued. Just after dawn, they claim an airstrike from a Coalition aircraft hit very close to their position:
“We could hear the missiles coming on top of our heads,” said one of our team members. “After the first airstrike, we started running, trying to reach the checkpoint. But the soldiers aimed their guns at us and told us to stay back.”
Another round of airstrikes followed. Back at the aid organisations’ office they tweeted the last known coordinates of their team to the American embassy in Baghdad and US Central Command, while a reporter called her military contacts to alert the US. That worked, according to Matthew Willingham, the organisation’s senior field editor: the Coalition “stopped short of acknowledging strikes at the exact coordinates we gave gave them.”
US forces have admitted they were conducting airstrikes on IS convoys in the area, according to Willingham. This is interesting as this is the southern convoy, of which the Coalition did not release any footage.
Since the attacks, access between Baghdad and the Iraqi province of Anbar has been even more restrictive than it already was, WaPo writes. As a result, humanitarian agencies are unable to deliver humanitarian supplies for “the tens of thousands” that have fled Fallujah and “are now stranded in desert camps”.
Analysis of open source information
Given all the open source information available concerning the incidents, several issues arise.
First of all is the confusion surrounding the events, which is not only indicated by the alleged airstrikes on the humanitarian organisations, but also by a tweet of the Coalition’s spokesperson. He tweeted several times about multiple convoys at multiple locations. With the above information, it seems highly likely that these convoys were probably the same: “east of Ramadi” is “near Habbaniyah”, while the spokesperson even tweets that is “southwest of Fallujah” (which it is not). To clear things up, here is an overview of the geolocated airstrikes on convoys around Fallujah.
As with regards to the northern convoy, the CJTF-OIR video sheem to show the convoy as being stationary, while the vehicles in the Iraqi MoD video were clearly driving. What is further noteworthy that in all videos not many bodies can be seen. Open source information cannot make this issue clearer, unfortunately.
What else is remarkable is that both convoys managed to leave from Fallujah, while there were only two humanitarian corridors opened, one north and one south, where males were detained for processing. The humanitarian corridors are shown in blue on the Institute for the Study of War map below (note: the map shows the situation as of June 17, IS territorial control was heavily decreased by June 28).
How, then, did the convoys leave the city on lockdown? This is especially significant for the southern convoy, which, if it really came out of Fallujah city, must have crossed the Euphrates River. The most recent available commercial satellite imagery via TerraServer shows that only two bridges leading out of Fallujah were still intact – all other bridges in the vicinity of Fallujah were destroyed as of June 5, 2016.
According to Fallujah’s mayor al-Issawi, IS fighters that had fled Fallujah gathered in Hassai. If this is indeed the case, it means that the convoy would not have had to cross the Euphrates with vehicles. But even if that would be the case, such a massive convoy would not have attempted to flee without assurances that the army would not fight them, al-Issawi is cited as saying in WaPo: “They wouldn’t take such a risk unless they had a deal with some side […] Why would they drive more than 500 cars in an exposed agricultural area?”
In the past, Iraqi forces have left open escape routes for IS militants to escape the urban areas and go into the desert, according to WaPo. But the Iraqi MoD’s spokesperson Rasoul dismissed that claim as “nonsense”.
Conclusion
A survey of the open source information available shows us that at least two convoys were attacked by aircraft of both Iraq and the Coalition.
One convoy was travelling from Fallujah in southwesterly direction when it was struck several times by Iraqi aircraft in the early morning of June 29. In the same area, a humanitarian convoy claims to have been targeted by Coalition aircraft as well. The Coalition has made statements both saying they did strike in that area as well as statements that said they were not.
A second convoy was travelling from Fallujah in northwesterly direction when it was struck north of the Albu Bali area by both Iraqi and Coalition aircraft later that day on June 29. A part of the convoy appears to have been struck again a day later, closer to Ramadi.
However, there are limitations to this open source approach, and there are still unanswered questions. How did the convoys managed to escape a city on lockdown? Who harmed the civilians near Ramadi that were airlifted by the Iraqi military’s aviation? Does this explain the lack of bodies shown on the videos? Why did the Iraqis attack the southern convoy despite a warning about civilians of the Coalition? Why was a humanitarian convoy allegedly targeted in the same area by Coalition aircraft nonetheless?
The author would like to express thank to the following Twitter users: @obretix in specific for his contributions to this article, as well as @Luxfero_99, @green_lemonnn, @Mr_Ghostly, and @ain92ru for the information they shared.
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/20 ... massacres/
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Re: Fallujah Updates: Following the people and the suffering
Author: Anthea » Thu Jul 07, 2016 12:42 am
Iraqis and Americans Butted Heads Over the ISIS ‘Convoy Massacre’
Civilians may have been caught in the crossfire
by ARNAUD DELALANDE
Civilians may have been caught in the crossfire
During the night of June 28, 2016, a huge convoy reportedly including thousands of Islamic State fighters evacuated Fallujah in central Iraq. Over the next two days, someone destroyed most of this convoy — around 260 vehicles — and killed as many as 750 militants.
On June 30, the Ministry of Defense in Baghdad announced it had attacked the convoy from the air.
Later on June 30, the spokesman for the coalition Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve announced that coalition forces had also taken part in these air strikes — but Iraqis sources denied that claim.
Who was really involved and what was the actual target? I asked Iraqi military pilots. And what they told me contradicted the coalition’s official story.
Between 9:00 and 10:00 at night on June 28, Iraqi military intelligence detected the movement of numerous vehicles from Fallujah in a southwesterly direction along the road to Amiriyat Fallujah.
Iraqi army helicopters took over the job of tracking the movement. Around 10:00 that night, intelligence reports indicated Islamic State militants were fleeing Fallujah — seemingly explaining the huge convoy.
Baghdad informed the Americans, but CJTF-OIR denied permission for its warplanes to attack the area in question, as the vehicles in question could be carrying civilians.
So Iraqi pilots took the initiative. They called their political leaders in Najaf and, four hours later, attack orders came down. The first two helicopters took off at 1:30 in the morning on June 29. As they approached the area, they encountered heavy automatic gunfire from the ground.
The shooting confirmed to the pilots — this was an Islamic State convoy. The pilots counted more than 400 vehicles. They’d never seen such a huge column before.
In a series of fierce attacks that lasted hours, Iraqi helicopters destroyed more than half the convoy, killing dozens of militants.
Photos and videos of the aftermath of this attack that have appeared on social media clearly show that the convoy consisted of a mixture of civilian and military vehicles. One video depicts a large number of M79 Osa anti-tank unguided rockets next to several vehicles.
Still, it’s possible that some of vehicles carried militants’ families — which is apparently why the United States initially refused to take part in the operation.
According to CJTF-OIR spokesman Col. Chris Garver, U.S. aircraft eventually did participate in an attack on the convoy, although they specifically avoided the part of the column the coalition suspected of carrying civilians.
Shortly after the first convoy’s destruction, Iraqi military intelligence received reports of another Islamic State convoy — around 30 vehicles — leaving Fallujah in a northwesterly direction.
Next came reports of militants — apparently survivors of the first column — killing many civilians east of Ramadi. On June 30, the Iraqi army deployed a number of Bell 407 scout helicopters and Mil Mi-28 gunships to reconnoiter the situation.
After encountering automatic weapons fire, the Iraqi pilots began maneuvering for position, but this time the U.S. Air Force ordered all helicopters to vacate the area. Once the Iraqis were away, fighter-bombers under CJTF-OIR’s control launched their own attacks.
In the following hours, Iraqi army aviation flew dozens of medical evacuation sorties with Mi-17 and EC.635 helicopters, evacuating injured civilians from the vicinity of the coalition’s air rads, including many children.
Later on June 30, Garver stated that the coalition had “struck two major Islamic State convoys fleeing Fallujah over the last two days.” Garver said the raids destroyed 55 trucks southwest of Fallujah and approximately 120 others — including three carrying improvised explosive devices — east of Ramadi, while Iraqi air force and army aviation destroyed dozens of additional vehicles.
These contradictory reports raises a number of questions. While it is clear that the U.S. armed forces and the coalition they lead are doing their best to avoid targeting civilians, it remains unclear why the Iraqis launched their first attack despite the Americans’ warnings about civilians?
Why did the Americans prevent the Iraqis from attacking the second convoy, but then attacked on their own? Finally, who caused the injuries to civilians on June 30. Was it ISIS, the Americans and their coalition or Iraqis?
https://warisboring.com/iraqis-and-amer ... .nneoqt67v
Civilians may have been caught in the crossfire
by ARNAUD DELALANDE
Civilians may have been caught in the crossfire
During the night of June 28, 2016, a huge convoy reportedly including thousands of Islamic State fighters evacuated Fallujah in central Iraq. Over the next two days, someone destroyed most of this convoy — around 260 vehicles — and killed as many as 750 militants.
On June 30, the Ministry of Defense in Baghdad announced it had attacked the convoy from the air.
Later on June 30, the spokesman for the coalition Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve announced that coalition forces had also taken part in these air strikes — but Iraqis sources denied that claim.
Who was really involved and what was the actual target? I asked Iraqi military pilots. And what they told me contradicted the coalition’s official story.
Between 9:00 and 10:00 at night on June 28, Iraqi military intelligence detected the movement of numerous vehicles from Fallujah in a southwesterly direction along the road to Amiriyat Fallujah.
Iraqi army helicopters took over the job of tracking the movement. Around 10:00 that night, intelligence reports indicated Islamic State militants were fleeing Fallujah — seemingly explaining the huge convoy.
Baghdad informed the Americans, but CJTF-OIR denied permission for its warplanes to attack the area in question, as the vehicles in question could be carrying civilians.
So Iraqi pilots took the initiative. They called their political leaders in Najaf and, four hours later, attack orders came down. The first two helicopters took off at 1:30 in the morning on June 29. As they approached the area, they encountered heavy automatic gunfire from the ground.
The shooting confirmed to the pilots — this was an Islamic State convoy. The pilots counted more than 400 vehicles. They’d never seen such a huge column before.
In a series of fierce attacks that lasted hours, Iraqi helicopters destroyed more than half the convoy, killing dozens of militants.
Photos and videos of the aftermath of this attack that have appeared on social media clearly show that the convoy consisted of a mixture of civilian and military vehicles. One video depicts a large number of M79 Osa anti-tank unguided rockets next to several vehicles.
Still, it’s possible that some of vehicles carried militants’ families — which is apparently why the United States initially refused to take part in the operation.
According to CJTF-OIR spokesman Col. Chris Garver, U.S. aircraft eventually did participate in an attack on the convoy, although they specifically avoided the part of the column the coalition suspected of carrying civilians.
Shortly after the first convoy’s destruction, Iraqi military intelligence received reports of another Islamic State convoy — around 30 vehicles — leaving Fallujah in a northwesterly direction.
Next came reports of militants — apparently survivors of the first column — killing many civilians east of Ramadi. On June 30, the Iraqi army deployed a number of Bell 407 scout helicopters and Mil Mi-28 gunships to reconnoiter the situation.
After encountering automatic weapons fire, the Iraqi pilots began maneuvering for position, but this time the U.S. Air Force ordered all helicopters to vacate the area. Once the Iraqis were away, fighter-bombers under CJTF-OIR’s control launched their own attacks.
In the following hours, Iraqi army aviation flew dozens of medical evacuation sorties with Mi-17 and EC.635 helicopters, evacuating injured civilians from the vicinity of the coalition’s air rads, including many children.
Later on June 30, Garver stated that the coalition had “struck two major Islamic State convoys fleeing Fallujah over the last two days.” Garver said the raids destroyed 55 trucks southwest of Fallujah and approximately 120 others — including three carrying improvised explosive devices — east of Ramadi, while Iraqi air force and army aviation destroyed dozens of additional vehicles.
These contradictory reports raises a number of questions. While it is clear that the U.S. armed forces and the coalition they lead are doing their best to avoid targeting civilians, it remains unclear why the Iraqis launched their first attack despite the Americans’ warnings about civilians?
Why did the Americans prevent the Iraqis from attacking the second convoy, but then attacked on their own? Finally, who caused the injuries to civilians on June 30. Was it ISIS, the Americans and their coalition or Iraqis?
https://warisboring.com/iraqis-and-amer ... .nneoqt67v
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Re: Fallujah Updates: Following the people and the suffering
Author: Anthea » Thu Jul 07, 2016 11:48 am
Up to 900 refugees from Fallujah feared dead
after being kidnapped by anti-Isis militia in Iraq
The UN said at least 49 of those kidnapped had been killed and up to 900 remain missing
Anthea: I vehemently believe these figures to be the tip of the iceberg, especially as they do not include the women who have been raped and murdered
Up to 900 men and boys who fled their homes near Isis’ former stronghold of Fallujah remain missing in Iraq after being abducted by a militia accused of torturing, shooting and beheading civilians.
The United Nations said captives who have since been freed by the paramilitary group reported a litany of war crimes and atrocities after they sought refuge from battles between Isis and Iraqi forces last month.
Those abducted had been among 8,000 civilians who fled the village of Saqlawiyah, north of Fallujah, as fighting intensified on 1 June.
The Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) said the refugees headed towards what they believed to be government forces hailing them with loudspeakers but arrived to find a line of militia fighters behind the Iraqi flags bearing the standard of Kataaib Hezbollah.
The Shia paramilitary group was designated a terror organisation by the US in 2009 because of its attacks on coalition troops but is now fighting Isis alongside Iraqi government forces.
The US State Department describes it as a “Shia Islamist group with an anti-Western establishment and jihadist ideology” that gained notoriety in 2007 with a stream of attacks against the Iraqi state including IEDs, rocket and grenade fire, and sniper operations.
Allegedly receiving funding from Iran and with links to Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the group has since switched its focus to fighting Isis and suspected Sunni rebels as part of the Popular Mobilisation Forces.
Leaders of the broad coalition have denied allegations of war crimes and claimed their fighters are treating civilans "like their own brothers" but footage has emerged showing members beating and mistreating detained men.
Around 1,500 and teenage boys were separated and imprisoned in warehouses, while the women and children were transferred to government-run displacement camps in Amiryat al-Fallujah.
A spokesperson said the detainees were denied water and food, with anyone asking for sustenance beaten with shovels, sticks and pipes.
Witnesses reported militia members vowing “revenge for Camp Speicher” – a massacre carried out by Isis in 2014 where its militants murdered as many as 1,700 mostly Shia Iraqi Air Force cadets after overrunning their base in Tikrit.
A spokesperson for the OHCHR said reported survivors saying at least four men were beheaded, while others were handcuffed and beaten to death, with bodies being publicly set on fire.
The prisoners were separated into two groups on 5 June – one of 600 men and boys taken to join women and children at displacement camps and another of around 900 who have disappeared.
The following day, an Anbar governorate official told Human Rights Watch around 600 men released by Kataaib Hezbollah and the Badr Brigades had been received at Amiriyat al-Fallujah Hospital with signs of torture including rape, burns, knife cuts, and bruising from beatings.
A Baghdad resident who visited the hospital said patients told her their fellow tribesmen had been dragged through the streets tied to cars, with some dying at the scene and others of their injuries in hospital.
Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the High Commissioner of Human Rights, said the fate of the larger group of 900 is unknown.
“It is intensely worrying, particularly given the references made to revenge for the Camp Speicher massacre,” he added.
“There is a list of the names of 643 missing men and boys, as well as of 49 others believed to have been summarily executed or tortured to death while in the initial custody of Kataaib Hezbollah.
“Tribal leaders believe there are around 200 more unaccounted for, whose names have not yet been collected.”
Mr al-Hussein said the atrocities and disappearances constituted “the worst – but far from the first – such incident involving unofficial militias fighting alongside government forces against Isis”, and called on the Iraqi government to hold. those responsible to account.
“These crimes are not only abhorrent- they are also wholly counterproductive,” he added.
“They give Isis a propaganda victory, and push people into their arms. They increase the likelihood of a renewed cycle of full-throttle sectarian violence.
“The Prime Minister of Iraq has set up an investigation committee into the disappearances, which I obviously support. But I believe the authorities have to take strong and immediate action to locate the missing men or ascertain precisely what happened to them.”
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi launched an investigation and arrests have reportedly been made, although there has been no detailed information on any progress.
There are concerns over the prospect of more abductions and atrocities during the operation to re-capture Isis’ largest Iraqi stronghold of Mosul.
The UN has cautioned that male civilians must not be presumed to have links with Isis or be treated as assumed combatants.
Nearly all of the missing men and boys from Saqlawiyah belong to the dominantly Sunni al-Mahamda tribe, who are viewed with suspicion by Shia paramilitaries as a subset Anbar Province’s Dulaim tribe, which has been part of violent resistance against the Iraqi state.
“People who escape from Isis should be treated with sympathy and respect, not tortured and killed simply on the basis of their gender and where they had the misfortune to be living when Isis arrived,” Mr al-Hussein said.
Iraq announced the re-capture of Fallujah just over a week ago after driving Isis out of the city in weeks of intense fighting that saw tens of thousands of civilians displaced and many killed.
More than 60,000 have reached displacement camps where they are living in conditions described as “desperate” by aid agencies, waiting for their homes to be rebuilt or cleared of unexploded ordnance and booby traps.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 21266.html
after being kidnapped by anti-Isis militia in Iraq
The UN said at least 49 of those kidnapped had been killed and up to 900 remain missing
Anthea: I vehemently believe these figures to be the tip of the iceberg, especially as they do not include the women who have been raped and murdered
Up to 900 men and boys who fled their homes near Isis’ former stronghold of Fallujah remain missing in Iraq after being abducted by a militia accused of torturing, shooting and beheading civilians.
The United Nations said captives who have since been freed by the paramilitary group reported a litany of war crimes and atrocities after they sought refuge from battles between Isis and Iraqi forces last month.
Those abducted had been among 8,000 civilians who fled the village of Saqlawiyah, north of Fallujah, as fighting intensified on 1 June.
The Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) said the refugees headed towards what they believed to be government forces hailing them with loudspeakers but arrived to find a line of militia fighters behind the Iraqi flags bearing the standard of Kataaib Hezbollah.
The Shia paramilitary group was designated a terror organisation by the US in 2009 because of its attacks on coalition troops but is now fighting Isis alongside Iraqi government forces.
The US State Department describes it as a “Shia Islamist group with an anti-Western establishment and jihadist ideology” that gained notoriety in 2007 with a stream of attacks against the Iraqi state including IEDs, rocket and grenade fire, and sniper operations.
Allegedly receiving funding from Iran and with links to Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the group has since switched its focus to fighting Isis and suspected Sunni rebels as part of the Popular Mobilisation Forces.
Leaders of the broad coalition have denied allegations of war crimes and claimed their fighters are treating civilans "like their own brothers" but footage has emerged showing members beating and mistreating detained men.
Around 1,500 and teenage boys were separated and imprisoned in warehouses, while the women and children were transferred to government-run displacement camps in Amiryat al-Fallujah.
A spokesperson said the detainees were denied water and food, with anyone asking for sustenance beaten with shovels, sticks and pipes.
Witnesses reported militia members vowing “revenge for Camp Speicher” – a massacre carried out by Isis in 2014 where its militants murdered as many as 1,700 mostly Shia Iraqi Air Force cadets after overrunning their base in Tikrit.
A spokesperson for the OHCHR said reported survivors saying at least four men were beheaded, while others were handcuffed and beaten to death, with bodies being publicly set on fire.
The prisoners were separated into two groups on 5 June – one of 600 men and boys taken to join women and children at displacement camps and another of around 900 who have disappeared.
The following day, an Anbar governorate official told Human Rights Watch around 600 men released by Kataaib Hezbollah and the Badr Brigades had been received at Amiriyat al-Fallujah Hospital with signs of torture including rape, burns, knife cuts, and bruising from beatings.
A Baghdad resident who visited the hospital said patients told her their fellow tribesmen had been dragged through the streets tied to cars, with some dying at the scene and others of their injuries in hospital.
Credible allegations of summary executions & mutilation of corpses by government forces outside Fallujah, #Iraq https://t.co/1xKlyl3u4R
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) June 9, 2016
Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the High Commissioner of Human Rights, said the fate of the larger group of 900 is unknown.
“It is intensely worrying, particularly given the references made to revenge for the Camp Speicher massacre,” he added.
“There is a list of the names of 643 missing men and boys, as well as of 49 others believed to have been summarily executed or tortured to death while in the initial custody of Kataaib Hezbollah.
“Tribal leaders believe there are around 200 more unaccounted for, whose names have not yet been collected.”
Mr al-Hussein said the atrocities and disappearances constituted “the worst – but far from the first – such incident involving unofficial militias fighting alongside government forces against Isis”, and called on the Iraqi government to hold. those responsible to account.
“These crimes are not only abhorrent- they are also wholly counterproductive,” he added.
“They give Isis a propaganda victory, and push people into their arms. They increase the likelihood of a renewed cycle of full-throttle sectarian violence.
“The Prime Minister of Iraq has set up an investigation committee into the disappearances, which I obviously support. But I believe the authorities have to take strong and immediate action to locate the missing men or ascertain precisely what happened to them.”
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi launched an investigation and arrests have reportedly been made, although there has been no detailed information on any progress.
There are concerns over the prospect of more abductions and atrocities during the operation to re-capture Isis’ largest Iraqi stronghold of Mosul.
The UN has cautioned that male civilians must not be presumed to have links with Isis or be treated as assumed combatants.
Nearly all of the missing men and boys from Saqlawiyah belong to the dominantly Sunni al-Mahamda tribe, who are viewed with suspicion by Shia paramilitaries as a subset Anbar Province’s Dulaim tribe, which has been part of violent resistance against the Iraqi state.
“People who escape from Isis should be treated with sympathy and respect, not tortured and killed simply on the basis of their gender and where they had the misfortune to be living when Isis arrived,” Mr al-Hussein said.
Iraq announced the re-capture of Fallujah just over a week ago after driving Isis out of the city in weeks of intense fighting that saw tens of thousands of civilians displaced and many killed.
More than 60,000 have reached displacement camps where they are living in conditions described as “desperate” by aid agencies, waiting for their homes to be rebuilt or cleared of unexploded ordnance and booby traps.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 21266.html
My Name Is KURDISTAN And I Will Be FREE
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Re: Fallujah Updates: Following the people and the suffering
Author: Anthea » Thu Jul 07, 2016 10:59 pm
Iraq: Fallujah Abuses Inquiry Mired in Secrecy
New Violations Belie US Reference to ‘Isolated Atrocities’
An Iraqi government investigation into alleged abuses against civilians during military operations to retake Fallujah is being kept under wraps. New reports of serious abuses by the Popular Mobilization Forces and Federal Police compound the summary killings, enforced disappearances, and torture reported since the beginning of the operation, which Human Rights Watch documented.
On June 4, 2016, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi opened an investigation into allegations of abuse and three days later announced unspecified arrests and the “transfer of those accused of committing violations to the judiciary to receive their punishment according to the law.” Government officials, however, have not provided information in response to Human Rights Watch inquiries since mid-June about the status of the investigation, who is conducting it, or steps taken so far.
“Failing to hold fighters and commanders accountable for grave abuses bodes very badly for the looming battle for Mosul,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. “Serious investigations and prosecutions are essential to provide justice to victims and their families, and to deter atrocities by government forces.”
Human Rights Watch directed its questions about the investigation to spokespersons for the prime minister and the judiciary. Human Rights Watch also spoke with members of parliament, the judiciary, a local official in Anbar province, government human rights officials as well as foreign and United Nations diplomats. None could provide any information about the purported investigations, including whether anyone has been arrested and charged.
At the start of the Fallujah operation against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, on May 24, Prime Minister al-Abadi said that his government had taken measures to protect civilians. However, during the two weeks of fighting, there were credible allegations of summary executions, beatings of men in custody, enforced disappearances, and mutilation of corpses by government forces.
Abuses by government security forces in Fallujah have continued since the defeat of ISIS forces, Human Rights Watch said. A witness provided Human Rights Watch with a photo he said he took on June 27 on the northern outskirts of Fallujah of a decapitated corpse with a rope around his left foot. He said he saw fighters of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an auxiliary fighting force under the prime minister’s command that includes many Shia militias, posing for pictures with the corpse moments before he took the photo. They were saying they were proud of killing a member of ISIS, though the status of the dead man as a combatant or civilian and the cause of death could not be determined.
Mutilation of corpses is a war crime, as is the killing of captured combatants or civilians, Human Rights Watch said.
The same witness said that in the Fallujah city center he saw PMF forces burning houses and shops while shouting slogans of revenge, and some looting. A photograph taken at the time shows burning shops in Fallujah. The media also reported arson and looting after government forces entered the city.
More reports have emerged about serious abuses during the Fallujah military operations. Several people, including two officials from Anbar governorate, told Human Rights Watch that on June 3, members of the Federal Police and the PMF executed more than a dozen civilians from the Jumaila tribe who were fleeing Sajar, a village north of Fallujah. The officials said they were protecting three witnesses.
A resident of Saqlawiya said that on the morning of June 3, men in army fatigues claiming to be Iraqi military came to the area, ordered the women, old men, and children to separate from the men. They then separated the men into various groups. The men in fatigues loaded him and at least 600 others, most from the al-Mahamda tribe, into trucks and eventually took them to Camp Tariq, an army base south of Falluja, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad. As he disembarked, he saw from the uniforms that the guards were from Hezbollah, a prominent Popular Mobilization Force.
He said that for the next 24 hours, the approximately 90 guards brutally beat him and the other prisoners, including with sticks and cables, while yelling anti-Sunni slurs. He said three of the men died in front of him. On the morning of June 5, local police forces freed the men, sending them to Amiriyat Fallujah Hospital.
An Iraqi aid worker at the hospital said that at least 50 men from Karma and Saqlawiya told him that PMF fighters had beaten them after detaining them during military operations and sometimes subjected them to more brutal treatment.
The Anbar governorate official said the men who were released told him that they saw the PMF fighters take away another 600 or more al-Mahamda men. Another Anbar official provided a list of 49 men whom those released had seen die in detention. The official also shared a list of another 643 people still missing from Saqlawiya. The Saqlawiya resident who was detained and beaten told Human Rights Watch he had uncles and cousins who had been missing since June 3.
On June 28, in testimony to the US Senate, Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama’s special envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIS, said in response to a question from Senator Ed Markey about the Iraqi government’s investigation that “[a]bout 4-5 members of the Iraqi Army have been detained. The investigation hasn’t been concluded yet.” On June 22, McGurk had described reports of abuse as “isolated atrocities committed by some of the Popular Mobilization Forces” and said the Iraqi government was “doing the right thing to make sure that anyone who commits a human rights violation is held to account.”
Iraqi criminal justice authorities should investigate all alleged crimes, including murder, torture and other abuses, committed by any party in the conflict in a prompt, transparent, and effective manner, up to the highest levels responsible. Those found criminally responsible should be appropriately prosecuted.
Iraqi authorities should also fairly prosecute ISIS members and other perpetrators of unlawful attacks on civilians, including those responsible for the horrific July 3 attack on people shopping for the Eid holiday in the Karrada district of Baghdad, which killed at least 165 people and wounded another 225. Such attacks are war crimes and, when part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population, constitute crimes against humanity.
Those conducting such criminal investigations and making decisions about prosecutions should be independent of those being investigated. They should be outside the regular military chain of command and free from political interference. The authorities should ensure the safety of all witnesses. At the same time, a commission of inquiry or equivalent should be created to examine the wider concerns about whether the abuses are being committed in a widespread or systematic manner.
“The US government needs to fully acknowledge and address the widespread, ongoing abuses by Iraqi government forces and the near complete absence of transparent investigations or any investigations at all,” Stork said. “The US should not be praising the government’s rhetorical commitment to accountability when there is zero information indicating that any such thing is happening.”
Critical but unanswered questions remain:
Who is conducting the investigation and who appointed them?
What is the investigation’s mandate and powers?
Does the mandate of the investigation include command responsibility for abuses?
Is the investigation under the High Judicial Council or is it an extra-judicial body?
Is the investigation based on Iraqi military or civilian criminal law and does it include violations of the laws of war and crimes against humanity?
How many investigations have been opened so far and what have the results been?
Have there been arrests? If so what are the accused’s ranks and units, and what are the charges?
Will the final findings and recommendations be made public?
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/07/ira ... ed-secrecy
New Violations Belie US Reference to ‘Isolated Atrocities’
An Iraqi government investigation into alleged abuses against civilians during military operations to retake Fallujah is being kept under wraps. New reports of serious abuses by the Popular Mobilization Forces and Federal Police compound the summary killings, enforced disappearances, and torture reported since the beginning of the operation, which Human Rights Watch documented.
On June 4, 2016, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi opened an investigation into allegations of abuse and three days later announced unspecified arrests and the “transfer of those accused of committing violations to the judiciary to receive their punishment according to the law.” Government officials, however, have not provided information in response to Human Rights Watch inquiries since mid-June about the status of the investigation, who is conducting it, or steps taken so far.
“Failing to hold fighters and commanders accountable for grave abuses bodes very badly for the looming battle for Mosul,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director. “Serious investigations and prosecutions are essential to provide justice to victims and their families, and to deter atrocities by government forces.”
Human Rights Watch directed its questions about the investigation to spokespersons for the prime minister and the judiciary. Human Rights Watch also spoke with members of parliament, the judiciary, a local official in Anbar province, government human rights officials as well as foreign and United Nations diplomats. None could provide any information about the purported investigations, including whether anyone has been arrested and charged.
At the start of the Fallujah operation against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, on May 24, Prime Minister al-Abadi said that his government had taken measures to protect civilians. However, during the two weeks of fighting, there were credible allegations of summary executions, beatings of men in custody, enforced disappearances, and mutilation of corpses by government forces.
Abuses by government security forces in Fallujah have continued since the defeat of ISIS forces, Human Rights Watch said. A witness provided Human Rights Watch with a photo he said he took on June 27 on the northern outskirts of Fallujah of a decapitated corpse with a rope around his left foot. He said he saw fighters of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an auxiliary fighting force under the prime minister’s command that includes many Shia militias, posing for pictures with the corpse moments before he took the photo. They were saying they were proud of killing a member of ISIS, though the status of the dead man as a combatant or civilian and the cause of death could not be determined.
Mutilation of corpses is a war crime, as is the killing of captured combatants or civilians, Human Rights Watch said.
The same witness said that in the Fallujah city center he saw PMF forces burning houses and shops while shouting slogans of revenge, and some looting. A photograph taken at the time shows burning shops in Fallujah. The media also reported arson and looting after government forces entered the city.
More reports have emerged about serious abuses during the Fallujah military operations. Several people, including two officials from Anbar governorate, told Human Rights Watch that on June 3, members of the Federal Police and the PMF executed more than a dozen civilians from the Jumaila tribe who were fleeing Sajar, a village north of Fallujah. The officials said they were protecting three witnesses.
A resident of Saqlawiya said that on the morning of June 3, men in army fatigues claiming to be Iraqi military came to the area, ordered the women, old men, and children to separate from the men. They then separated the men into various groups. The men in fatigues loaded him and at least 600 others, most from the al-Mahamda tribe, into trucks and eventually took them to Camp Tariq, an army base south of Falluja, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad. As he disembarked, he saw from the uniforms that the guards were from Hezbollah, a prominent Popular Mobilization Force.
He said that for the next 24 hours, the approximately 90 guards brutally beat him and the other prisoners, including with sticks and cables, while yelling anti-Sunni slurs. He said three of the men died in front of him. On the morning of June 5, local police forces freed the men, sending them to Amiriyat Fallujah Hospital.
An Iraqi aid worker at the hospital said that at least 50 men from Karma and Saqlawiya told him that PMF fighters had beaten them after detaining them during military operations and sometimes subjected them to more brutal treatment.
The Anbar governorate official said the men who were released told him that they saw the PMF fighters take away another 600 or more al-Mahamda men. Another Anbar official provided a list of 49 men whom those released had seen die in detention. The official also shared a list of another 643 people still missing from Saqlawiya. The Saqlawiya resident who was detained and beaten told Human Rights Watch he had uncles and cousins who had been missing since June 3.
On June 28, in testimony to the US Senate, Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama’s special envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIS, said in response to a question from Senator Ed Markey about the Iraqi government’s investigation that “[a]bout 4-5 members of the Iraqi Army have been detained. The investigation hasn’t been concluded yet.” On June 22, McGurk had described reports of abuse as “isolated atrocities committed by some of the Popular Mobilization Forces” and said the Iraqi government was “doing the right thing to make sure that anyone who commits a human rights violation is held to account.”
Iraqi criminal justice authorities should investigate all alleged crimes, including murder, torture and other abuses, committed by any party in the conflict in a prompt, transparent, and effective manner, up to the highest levels responsible. Those found criminally responsible should be appropriately prosecuted.
Iraqi authorities should also fairly prosecute ISIS members and other perpetrators of unlawful attacks on civilians, including those responsible for the horrific July 3 attack on people shopping for the Eid holiday in the Karrada district of Baghdad, which killed at least 165 people and wounded another 225. Such attacks are war crimes and, when part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population, constitute crimes against humanity.
Those conducting such criminal investigations and making decisions about prosecutions should be independent of those being investigated. They should be outside the regular military chain of command and free from political interference. The authorities should ensure the safety of all witnesses. At the same time, a commission of inquiry or equivalent should be created to examine the wider concerns about whether the abuses are being committed in a widespread or systematic manner.
“The US government needs to fully acknowledge and address the widespread, ongoing abuses by Iraqi government forces and the near complete absence of transparent investigations or any investigations at all,” Stork said. “The US should not be praising the government’s rhetorical commitment to accountability when there is zero information indicating that any such thing is happening.”
Critical but unanswered questions remain:
Who is conducting the investigation and who appointed them?
What is the investigation’s mandate and powers?
Does the mandate of the investigation include command responsibility for abuses?
Is the investigation under the High Judicial Council or is it an extra-judicial body?
Is the investigation based on Iraqi military or civilian criminal law and does it include violations of the laws of war and crimes against humanity?
How many investigations have been opened so far and what have the results been?
Have there been arrests? If so what are the accused’s ranks and units, and what are the charges?
Will the final findings and recommendations be made public?
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/07/ira ... ed-secrecy
My Name Is KURDISTAN And I Will Be FREE
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Anthea - Shaswar
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Re: Fallujah Updates: Following the people and the suffering
Author: Anthea » Sat Aug 13, 2016 1:43 am
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Re: Fallujah Updates: Following the people and the suffering
Author: Anthea » Sat Aug 13, 2016 1:54 am
I am still waiting for the coalition to donate a few billion to rebuild Fallujah
Members of the coalition were happy to spend billions destroying Fallujah
they should now spend billions rebuilding the city
Members of the coalition were happy to spend billions destroying Fallujah
they should now spend billions rebuilding the city
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Re: Fallujah Updates: Following the people and the suffering
Author: Anthea » Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:08 pm
PLEASE REMEMBER THE PEOPLE OF FALLUJAH
Remember that news written by the victor is not always accurate so do not bother reading the following news item - suggest you only use to link below to view the destruction of Fallujah by the coalition:
http://uk.businessinsider.com/fallujah- ... disarray-1
Never forget that the coalition also destroyed Kobane - my friends where there as it happened
A sad fact of this war is the mentality of the coalition, who seem to follow the old adage 'Kill them all and let God sort them out.'
They bomb places into the stone age without any thought of helping to rebuild that which they seem so happy to destroy
Remember that news written by the victor is not always accurate so do not bother reading the following news item - suggest you only use to link below to view the destruction of Fallujah by the coalition:
http://uk.businessinsider.com/fallujah- ... disarray-1
Never forget that the coalition also destroyed Kobane - my friends where there as it happened
A sad fact of this war is the mentality of the coalition, who seem to follow the old adage 'Kill them all and let God sort them out.'
They bomb places into the stone age without any thought of helping to rebuild that which they seem so happy to destroy
My Name Is KURDISTAN And I Will Be FREE
-
Anthea - Shaswar
- Donator
- Posts: 31601
- Images: 1151
- Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:13 pm
- Location: Sitting in front of computer
- Highscores: 3
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- Nationality: Kurd by heart
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