Monitoring group: DAESH executes 3,500 people in less than two years
DAESH has executed more than 3,500 people in Syria, including nearly 2,000 civilians, since declaring its "caliphate" in June last year, a monitor said Sunday. In the last month alone DAESH executed 53 people, including 35 civilians, in areas it controls in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The new figures from the Britain-based Observatory bring to 3,591 the number of people executed by DAESH in Syria since it declared its "caliphate" after seizing control of large parts of the country. The new toll includes 1,945 civilians, including 103 women and 77 children, with civilians defined as those who are not taking part in the fighting. Some were executed for alleged witchcraft, homosexuality and collaborating with the US-led coalition that has been bombarding DAESH in Syria since September 2014. Members of Sunni Shaitat tribe account for around half of the civilians killed. DAESH killed 930 members of the clan in the northeastern Deir Ezzor province last year after they opposed the extremist group. The monitor also documented 247 DAESH executions of rival rebels and Kurdish fighters, as well as the executions of 975 members of regime forces. DAESH has also executed 415 of its own members it accused of crimes including spying, many of them captured as they were trying to desert the group, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, medical staff and fighters on the ground.
Kurdish officials said Sunday three more mass graves have been found in the northern town of Sinjar, where Kurdish forces backed by heavy U.S.-led airstrikes drove out DAESH militants earlier this month. The discovery brings the total number of burial sites in the area to five and the total number of bodies uncovered to between 200 and 300, according to local officials. While experts say proper excavation and identification of the bodies could take months, Sinjar residents are expressing frustration with the process so far, complaining that their requests from the Kurdish Regional Government for expert help have gone unanswered. Residents are seeking a faster identification process and assistance in rebuilding the town, much of which is uninhabitable after more than a year of clashes and airstrikes. The graves found over the weekend are believed to contain 80 to 100 bodies, Qasim Simo, the head of security in Sinjar, said on Sunday. Two were uncovered to the east of the town and one was found within the western edges of Sinjar town itself.
Experts caution however, that properly counting and identifying the dead is a process that could take months and requires a controlled environment. Local media reports showed some of the burial sites being excavated with heavy construction equipment. At others, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were seen moving what appeared to be human remains into plastic garbage bags. "The important thing is that the site is secure," said Kevin Sullivan of the International Commission on Missing Persons, an organization that specializes in war crimes documentation, including the excavation of mass grave sites. "The site needs to be controlled, for example, by police or under authority of a prosecutor and the bodies need to be exhumed in a systematic way with any identifying artifacts," as wallets and scraps of clothing, he said. Careful record taking is key to being able to initiate war crimes proceedings in the future, he added. The proximity of many of the sites in Sinjar to active front lines makes circumstances particularly difficult, Sullivan said. The first suspected mass graves were uncovered over two weeks ago within days of DAESH militants being pushed out of Sinjar. One, near the town's center was estimated to contain 78 elderly women's bodies, and another, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) outside of Sinjar, contained between 50 and 60 bodies of men, women and children, according to Qasim Samir, the Sinjar director of intelligence.
DAESH captured Sinjar during its rampage across northern Iraq in the summer of 2014 and killed and captured thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority, including women forced into sexual slavery. The group's rapid expansion in Iraq's north, which included a push toward the city of Erbil, spurred the U.S.-led coalition to launch a campaign of airstrikes against DAES in Iraq and later Syria. On Sunday the Pentagon said coalition aircraft carried out 19 airstrikes in Iraq, three of which struck targets near Sinjar and neighboring towns in Iraq's northwest.
Meanwhile, Iraq's military command has told civilians in the DAESH-held Ramadi to leave the city, a sign that an operation may soon be underway to retake the provincial capital. Monday's statement, broadcast on Iraqi state TV, says the Ramadi families are requested to leave the city from its southern, Himaira area. No further instructions or details were given. It's unclear if the long-awaited operation to recapture Ramadi is imminent. The U.S.-led alliance carried out seven airstrikes near Ramadi on Saturday, targeting DAESH fighters, key positions and weapons caches. DAESH captured Ramadi in May, after government forces abandoned their posts. The provincial capital of Anbar province is located about 115 km west of Baghdad.
Kurdish officials said Sunday three more mass graves have been found in the northern town of Sinjar, where Kurdish forces backed by heavy U.S.-led airstrikes drove out DAESH militants earlier this month. The discovery brings the total number of burial sites in the area to five and the total number of bodies uncovered to between 200 and 300, according to local officials. While experts say proper excavation and identification of the bodies could take months, Sinjar residents are expressing frustration with the process so far, complaining that their requests from the Kurdish Regional Government for expert help have gone unanswered. Residents are seeking a faster identification process and assistance in rebuilding the town, much of which is uninhabitable after more than a year of clashes and airstrikes. The graves found over the weekend are believed to contain 80 to 100 bodies, Qasim Simo, the head of security in Sinjar, said on Sunday. Two were uncovered to the east of the town and one was found within the western edges of Sinjar town itself.
Experts caution however, that properly counting and identifying the dead is a process that could take months and requires a controlled environment. Local media reports showed some of the burial sites being excavated with heavy construction equipment. At others, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were seen moving what appeared to be human remains into plastic garbage bags. "The important thing is that the site is secure," said Kevin Sullivan of the International Commission on Missing Persons, an organization that specializes in war crimes documentation, including the excavation of mass grave sites. "The site needs to be controlled, for example, by police or under authority of a prosecutor and the bodies need to be exhumed in a systematic way with any identifying artifacts," as wallets and scraps of clothing, he said. Careful record taking is key to being able to initiate war crimes proceedings in the future, he added. The proximity of many of the sites in Sinjar to active front lines makes circumstances particularly difficult, Sullivan said. The first suspected mass graves were uncovered over two weeks ago within days of DAESH militants being pushed out of Sinjar. One, near the town's center was estimated to contain 78 elderly women's bodies, and another, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) outside of Sinjar, contained between 50 and 60 bodies of men, women and children, according to Qasim Samir, the Sinjar director of intelligence.
DAESH captured Sinjar during its rampage across northern Iraq in the summer of 2014 and killed and captured thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority, including women forced into sexual slavery. The group's rapid expansion in Iraq's north, which included a push toward the city of Erbil, spurred the U.S.-led coalition to launch a campaign of airstrikes against DAES in Iraq and later Syria. On Sunday the Pentagon said coalition aircraft carried out 19 airstrikes in Iraq, three of which struck targets near Sinjar and neighboring towns in Iraq's northwest.
Meanwhile, Iraq's military command has told civilians in the DAESH-held Ramadi to leave the city, a sign that an operation may soon be underway to retake the provincial capital. Monday's statement, broadcast on Iraqi state TV, says the Ramadi families are requested to leave the city from its southern, Himaira area. No further instructions or details were given. It's unclear if the long-awaited operation to recapture Ramadi is imminent. The U.S.-led alliance carried out seven airstrikes near Ramadi on Saturday, targeting DAESH fighters, key positions and weapons caches. DAESH captured Ramadi in May, after government forces abandoned their posts. The provincial capital of Anbar province is located about 115 km west of Baghdad.