Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses. Share the link of this article with your facebook friends

 

Genocidal NATO-Iranian-Iraqi Government Attacks Result in Ethnic Cleansing of Millions of Sunni Muslim Arab Iraqis

June 23, 2017 

Editor's Note:

The coalition which fights the Islamic State and other Sunni groups in Syria consists of US-led NATO forces, Russian forces, Syrian Alewite government forces, Iranian-backed Shi'i militias, and Kurdish peshmerga forces. The coalition's continuous attacks have resulted in the killing of thousands of Iraqi and Syrian Sunni Muslim Arabs and the eviction of millions of them as a result of the destruction of their cities and villages.

The end outcome is going to be the weakening and possible dismantling of Iraqi and Syrian states as well as the eviction (ethnic cleansing of) Sunni Muslim Arabs, particularly from the upper Euphrates region of northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria. 

The larger context for understanding the Syrian war (and other wars in the Middle East) is that it contributes to the implementation of the Zionist-Israeli plan of destroying the Arab Middle Eastern states in preparation for the establishment of the greater Israeli empire, from the Nile of Egypt to the Euphrates of Iraq.  

For a background, read: 

Zionist Creative Destruction of the Middle East for the Benefit of the Apartheid Israeli Regime

 

US marines bombarding Islamic State-held cities in north Syria, March 24, 2017	Iraqi government soldier makes a victory sign over Sunni Muslim Arab women and children from Mosul, June 21, 2017

Families related to Islamic State fighters are deported out of Mosul, file photo, June 21, 2017	Iraqi Sunni Muslim Arab families forced to leave Mosul old city by attacks, to become refugees in Hammam Al-Alil, May 10, 2017
Sunni Muslim Arab families fleeing Iraqi government attacks on the city of Mosul arrive at a checkpoint in outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, June 10, 2014	Sunni Muslim Arabs flee old city of western Mosul, under Iraqi government attacks, June 3, 2017

 

The following are news stories from the independent Iraqi Arabic news agency, Yaqein ( http://yaqein.net/ ):

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Iraqi government attacks on civilians resulted in the ethnic cleansing of 3 million Sunni Muslim Arabs العمليات العسكرية في العراق .. ضد المدنيين (ملف) 10 أبريل 2017   شهدت مدن ومحافظات عراقية خلال السنوات الاخيرة تنفيذ عمليات عسكرية من قبل القوات المشتركة مع الميليشات الطائفية،  وبدعم من التحالف الدولي بذريعة تحرير هذه المدن من (تنظيم الدولة) ، العمليات العسكرية هذه ، أحرقت الأخضر واليابس واراقت الدماء وهجَّرت السكان والحقت الدمار والخراب بها، حتى بدت عقابا جماعيا لأهالي مناطق انتفضت ضد الفساد والظلم الحكومي. العمليات العسكرية التي رافقها قصف حربي متواصل على مدن بعينها ، تسببت في موجات نزوح لم يشهد لها العراق مثيل من قبل ، حيث تجاوز أعداد النازحين في داخل العراق الثلاثة ملايين مدني ، ناهيك عن أوضاع هؤلاء النازحين المأساوية في المخيمات المتهالكة التي تفتقر إلى كل مقومات العيش الكريم. العديد من المدن التي طالتها العمليات العسكرية في العراق والتي تحولت إلى أكوام من الركام ، لم تتحرك الحكومة قيد أنملة لإعادة إعمارها تمهيدا لعودة أهالي هذه المدن النازحة إليها ، وهو ما يؤكد النية المبيتة لهذه الحكومة لتغيير ديمغرافية تلك المدن. وفي هذا الملف، نرصد اهم وابرز المواضيع التي توثق حجم الدمار الذي الحق بالمدنيين بسبب العمليات العسكرية. لزيارة الملف إضغط هنا" http://yaqein.net/files/25726

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The following are news stories from a pro-Iraqi government website (http://www.iraqinews.com/), which usually reports those who are killed by Iraqi government attacks as Islamic State fighters, implying no civilians were killed by bombing residential neighborhoods:

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More than 5 million children need urgent humanitarian aid in Iraq: UNICEF

by Mohamed Mostafa Jun 22, 2017, 10:02 am

Baghdad (Reuters) --

More than 5 million children are in urgent need of aid in Iraq, the United Nations said on Thursday, describing the war on Islamic State as “one of the most brutal” in modern history.

“Across Iraq, children continue to witness sheer horror and unimaginable violence,” the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement.

“They have been killed, injured, abducted and forced to shoot and kill in one of the most brutal wars in recent history.”

In Mosul, children are being deliberately targeted and killed by Islamic State militants to punish families and deter them from fleeing, it said.

International organizations estimate that more than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, are trapped in extremely dangerous conditions in the Old City center, the last district still under the militants’ control in Mosul.

More than 1,000 children have been killed and more than 1,100 wounded or maimed since 2014, when the ultra-hardline militants seized large swathes of Iraq, it said. Over 4,650 children have become separated from their families.

The militants have lost most of the Iraqi cities they came to control, after a series of U.S.-backed offensives that began in 2015. They are also close to losing all of Mosul, the northern city which served as their de facto capital.

Nineveh council says feuds break out between Mosul civilians and IS families

by Mohamed Mostafa Jun 21, 2017, 7:22 pm

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) --

A number of tribal feuds flared recently in Mosul between families of Islamic State fighters and civilians who had relatives killed by the group, Nineveh province council said Wednesday.

Council member Hossam al-Abbar told Almaalomah website that feuds broke out at the Qayyara, Hammam al-Alil and other regions south of Mosul after more displaced civilians returned to their home regions from refugee camps.

Security forces intervene temporarily to defuse the tensions, the official stated.

“The judiciary should be the arbitrator between the culprit and the victim,” Abbar urged.

Earlier on Wednesday, London-based al-Quds al-Arabi quoted Khaled al-Jar, mayor of Qayyara, saying that 500 people from his town protested demanding to expel IS members relatives. It added that tribal chiefs in Hammam al-Alil also urged to deport IS relatives for fear of vengeful acts.

Speaking to the newspaper, an officer from Nineveh police service said that, based on Iraqi laws, families linked to the Islamic State cannot be punished for the actions of one family member, explaining that others who pledged allegiance to the group can not also be held accountable, given that many did under threat rather than voluntarily.

The tensions were high that they mounted to killing members of Islamic State-linked families or setting their properties on fire.

On Tuesday, the Mosul city council said in a statement it would no longer allow receiving Islamic State fighters families migrating from other provinces. The existing families were to be deported and sheltered in camps where they would be “psychologically and ideologically rehabilitated and integrated with society once they prove responsive to that process.”

The council’s plan also involves a ban on internal migration in Mosul, and to ensure that migrant families are returned to the very same residences they occupied before June 2014 except those who had lost their dwelling.

Unidentified shelling kill, injure thirteen civilians inside house, west of Anbar

by Nehal Mostafa Jun 21, 2017, 4:59 pm

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Thirteen civilians were killed and injured as unidentified shelling occurred, north of Rutba city, west of Anbar, a local source from the province said.

“Unidentified jet shelled a house of civilians near Okashat region, in the north of Rutba,” the source told AlSumaria News.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said “the shelling left Four people, including two children, were killed, while nine others, including children, were injured.”

Despite being controlled by security troops, occasional attacks as well as unidentified shelling usually occur on some parts and regions in the vicinity of Rutba.

On Saturday, a senior Iraqi officer was quoted as saying that a military operation was launched to drive IS militants out of the western regions in Anbar province.

Iraqi forces and US-led international coalition were slammed due to the fall of hundreds of civilian casualties by air strikes and explosions.

Iraqi troops were able to return life back to normal in the biggest cities of Anbar including Fallujah, Ramadi and others after recapturing them. However, Anbar’s western cities of Annah, Qaim and Rawa are still held by the extremist group since 2014, when it emerged to proclaim a self-styled Islamic Caliphate. There has not been an officially-declared military campaign to free those regions, but the province’s military command launched a brief assault early January that managed to recapture some western villages before stopping again.

It is believed that the Iraqi government will not aim at western Anbar before its forces are done with retaking Mosul.

Over 700,000 civilians displaced from western Mosul since February: Ministry

by Nehal Mostafa Jun 21, 2017, 2:39 pm

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) --

More than 700,000 civilians have been displaced since beginning of offensives in western Mosul, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement said.

In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry “urged all ministries and authorities to make best efforts to return life back to normal in the western side of the city.”

“Residents of western Mosul cannot stay at camps, while most of the districts were liberated months ago,” it added.

Earlier this month, the ministry estimated the number of civilians displaced from Nineveh province since 2016 at 819,000, while number of the displaced since launch of offensives in western Mosul reached 642,000 civilians.

Civilians, meanwhile, resumed fleeing the Old City districts, where confrontations have been ongoing over the past few days.

Cap. Jabbar Hassan, of the Iraqi army, said “troops of the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Service evacuated on Tuesday evening 360 civilians from the vicinity of the Grand Nuri al-Kabeer mosque.

He indicated difficulties with evacuation as Islamic State militants detain hundreds of civilians inside houses to use them as human shields to hamper progress of security troops.

According to governmental figures, more than four million citizens were displaced due to the war against Islamic State militants in Iraq since January 2014, according to Iraqi government figures.

The Old City are the biggest challenge for Iraqi troops to complete liberation of the city due to its densely-populated yet narrow alleyways, which makes it hard to military vehicles to invade. It is home to the Grand Nuri al-Kabeer mosque, where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his self-styled “caliphate” covering parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Iraqi troops were able to retake the eastern side of Mosul in January, one month after another major offensive was launched to retake the western side.

Over 700 civilians flee Mosul’s Old City

by Nehal Mostafa Jun 20, 2017, 10:06 pm

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) --

More than 700 civilians fled the last IS-held district in western Mosul over the past 24 hours, an Iraqi military source said.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Cap. Jabbar Hassan said troops of the ninth armored division of the Iraqi army and Federal Police troops transferred the fleeing civilians, most of whom were women and children, to outside the Old City without naming it.

In related news, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, head of the Federal Police, said in a statement that 32 IS militants were killed in battlefields in the Old City.

Several areas inside and around the Old City have been recaptured putting the area under full siege.

A statement by Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell, quoted Nineveh Operations Commander Abdulamir Yarallah earlier on Tuesday, as saying that troops from the 9th division of the Iraqi army recaptured the southern part of al-Shifa district, a home to several major health facilities north of the Old City.

The Old City are the biggest challenge for Iraqi troops to complete liberation of the city due to its densely-populated yet narrow alleyways, which makes it hard to military vehicles to invade. It is home to the Grand Nuri al-Kabeer mosque, where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his self-styled “caliphate” covering parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Iraqi troops were able to retake the eastern side of Mosul in January, one month after another major offensive was launched to retake the western side.

Mosul council deports IS fighters families, cites need for rehabilitation

by Mohamed Mostafa Jun 20, 2017, 5:45 pm

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Mosul city council decided Tuesday to deport the families of Islamic State fighters and to relocate them to special camps in order to rehabilitate them mentally.

In a statement, the council said it will no longer allow receiving migrant Islamic State fighters families arriving from other provinces. The existing families are to be deported and sheltered in camps where they will be “psychologically and ideologically rehabilitated and integrated with society once they prove responsive to that process.”

The council’s plan also involves a ban on internal migration in Mosul, and to ensure that migrant families are returned to the very same residences they occupied before June 2014 except those who had lost their dwelling. Official IDs will be reviewed to verify that migrants are truelly original Mosul residents, according to the statement.

Iraqi security forces are currently cornering IS militants in the Old City in western Mosul. Forces recaptured eastern Mosul in January, and have been screening the population there in search for IS-linked individuals and arresting suspects. Security forces have regularly caught IS-affiliated militants sneaking in the middle of displaced civilians.

The war against Islamic State militants in Mosul has displaced at least 800.000 civilians since their launch in October 2016.

13 civilians die in air and artillery strikes on western Mosul’s Old City

by Mohamed Mostafa Jun 18, 2017, 7:24 pm

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) --

Thirteen civilians were killed on Sunday as Iraqi troops bombarded Islamic State locations in western Mosul’s Old City, the militant group’s last holdout in Iraq’s second largest city, an activist was quoted saying.

Anadolu Agency quoted luqman Omar al-Tai saying that Iraqi forces bombarded IS locations in Ras al-Kour, Mashahda, Mayasa and Deka Baraka in the Old City, killing 13, who included three women, and wounding eight, including children.

The Defense Ministry’s War Media Cell said Sunday that government forces began invading the Old City, the medieval, densely populated and narrowly structured area where a few hundred militants entrenched in the middle of at least 100.000 civilians believed to be used as human shields.

Several hundreds of civilians have been killed since Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary forces, launched a major offensive in October to retake Mosul which fell under IS control in 2014.

While the Iraqi command leading the campaign has reiterated its forces heeded safety measures that ensure civilians’ lives are protected, recurrent reports say Iraqi strikes were behind civilian deaths on several occasions. The U.S.-led coalition, meanwhile, had admitted causing more than 350 deaths since 2014.

Islamic State militants have also regularly shot at civilians attempting to flee the battlefield towards areas held by Iraqi forces.

Unidentified airstrike leaves 50 civilians under debris in Old Mosul: Activist

by Nehal Mostafa Jun 14, 2017, 1:42 pm

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) An airstrike launched on Wednesday left a house in Mosul’s Old City destroyed with 50 civilians under debris, an activist was quoted as saying.

“Urgent calls were made by besieged residents in the Old City that 50 civilians were under debris of an old house in an al-Borsa (stock market) region,” Mohamed Hussein al-Hayali, an activist based in western Mosul, told Anadolu Agency.

“The house collapsed after a nearby location was targeted by an airstrike,” Hayali added without identifying the jets that carried out the strikes.

Those besieged under the debris, according to Hayali, included women and children.”We do not rule out that there could be victims due to the high explosion, as we were notified, amid absence of efforts to save them.”

Mosul battles are covered by the international coalition led by the U.S. and the Iraqi fighter jets.

In related news, Iraqi troops arrested an Islamic State militant after swimming along with group of civilians crossing Tigris River.

Cap. Haidar Ali al-Waeli, of the Iraqi army, said group of civilians were able to cross Tigris River swimming near Sheikh Mohamed village.

“Once they were assisted to get out of the water, one of them indicated that an Islamic State militant accompanied them,” he said adding that the member was arrested.

On Tuesday, Iraqi troops reported progress and announced recapturing of al-Zanjili district, located north of the Old City, which is home to the Grand Nuri al-Kabeer mosque, from which IS Supreme Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared establishing caliphate in 2014.

Urban warfare takes heavy civilian toll in Syria, Iraq, Yemen: ICRC

by Loaa Adel Jun 14, 2017, 10:34 pm

(Reuters) --

 Urban warfare is taking root in conflicts across the Middle East, with five times more civilians in Syria and Iraq killed in cities than in rural areas over the past three years, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of war-related fatalities among city dwellers accounted for 70 percent of civilian deaths in the two countries during the period, the agency said. The Yemeni cities of Taiz, Sadaa and Sanaa have also become deadly battlefields.

“This is all the more alarming as new offensives (against Islamic State militants) get under way in cities like Raqqa in Syria or intensify in Mosul, Iraq,” said Robert Mardini, ICRC regional director for the Middle East.

“Taiz remains partly besieged just as daily air strikes and shelling continue to terrify residents,” he told a news conference to launch an ICRC report called “I Saw My City Die”.

The phenomenon is not limited to the Middle East, Mardini said. “We see also that many other conflicts are taking place in urban areas in other places such as Somalia and Afghanistan and other countries.”

Battles raging in cities, which are “today the new normal unfortunately”, damage vital infrastructure and disrupt basic services including health care, Mardini said.

“The impacts of warfare are quickly multiplied with exponential consequences. If a power line is hit, (there is) no water, no electricity, no waste water treatment. There are contamination outbreaks and massive challenges to run hospitals,” he said.

Yemen’s two-year civil war has been marked by a Saudi-led coalition carrying out massive air strikes to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power and end rule by the Iran-backed Houthi militia. 

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The following are news stories from the US Department of Defense website (http://www.defense.gov/News) :

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US-Led Coalition Strikes Continue Against ISIS in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 22, 2017 —

U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Operation Inherent Resolve - Targeted Operations Against ISIS U.S. Central Command continues to work with partner nations to conduct targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as part of the comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 14 strikes consisting of 26 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Raqqa, 14 strikes engaged 14 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 16 fighting positions, three vehicles and an ammunition cache.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted six strikes consisting of 86 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged four ISIS tactical units and a sniper; destroyed 35 fighting positions, 10 medium machine guns, seven rocket-propelled grenade systems, six heavy machine guns, five vehicles, three vehicle-borne bombs, two command-and-control nodes, a mortar team and an unmanned aerial system launch site; damaged two ISIS supply routes; and suppressed a mortar team.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed a front-end loader.

June 20 Strikes

Additionally, three strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on June 20 that closed within the last 24 hours.

-- Near Raqqa, Syria, two strikes damaged eight fighting positions.

-- Near Mosul, Iraq, a strike suppressed five mortar teams.

SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 21, 2017 —

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 12 strikes consisting of 16 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Raqqa, 12 strikes engaged 10 ISIS tactical units and destroyed six fighting positons, three vehicles, three tactical vehicles, two mortar teams, a command-and-control node and a mortar cache.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted two strikes consisting of 28 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Mosul, two strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed 24 fighting positions, three vehicles, two rocket-propelled grenade systems, two medium machine guns, a recoilless rifle, a supply cache and a heavy machine gun; and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.

Previous Strikes

Additionally, six strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on June 11, 18-19, that closed within the last 24 hours.

-- On June 11, near Raqqa, Syria, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit, destroyed 19 fighting positions and an ISIS-held building and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.

-- On June 18, near Raqqa, Syria, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit, destroyed five fighting positions, damaged eight fighting positions and suppressed an ISIS tactical unit.

-- On June 19, near Raqqa, Syria, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position and an unmanned aerial system launch site.

-- On June 19, near Mosul, Iraq, three strikes engaged two ISIS tactical units; destroyed four medium machine guns, two rocket-propelled grenade systems, a fighting position, an artillery system and a bomb-rigged house; and damaged six ISIS supply routes. 

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