ISIS prepares to use 700 Anbar families as human shields
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Al-Hashd al-Shaabi Command in Anbar revealed, that the Islamic State group detained 700 families in Rawa district, in western the province, in order to use them as human shields, while pointed out to the execution of dozens of youths for trying to flee toward the areas held by security forces.
Intelligence Director of al-Somoud brigade, Captain Nazim al-Jaghifi said in a press statement, “ISIS terrorist gangs are detaining 700 families, mostly women and children, in Rawa district, to use them as human shields.”
“The ISIS terrorists are preventing civilians from leaving the areas of Rawa district for three years now, and impelled them to grow their beards and wear special clothes, in addition to preventing cigarettes and burning registration offices,” Jaghifi added. “ISIS executed dozens of youths in the previous period for trying to flee toward the areas held by security forces in Haditha and Rutba,” Jaghifi explained.
Noteworthy, ISIS occupied the district of Rawa early 2014, while security forces are preparing to liberate it from the terrorists’ control.
ISIS executes 3 in Raqqa
[ARA News] Raqqa – The Islamic State (ISIS) radical group executed on Friday three young men in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa city on charges of spying for the US-led coalition.
The ISIS-led Hisba Police launched an arrest campaign in the al-Makf district of Raqqa. At least 11 people were arrested and taken into ISIS custody.
The Sharia Court of Raqqa convicted three of them with “treason” and sentenced them to death.
“The three men were executed by firing squad in central Raqqa on Friday evening,” local media activist Abdullah al-Jassim told ARA News.
The victims were identified as Muhammad Nour al-Khalaf, 21, Adel Ismael, 24, and Khalil al-Issa, 22.
Hundreds of people witnessed the execution, eyewitnesses told ARA News.
“ISIS accused them of leaking security information to the international coalition,” al-Jassim reported.
The US-led coalition has recently intensified its airstrikes against ISIS positions in Raqqa–which is deemed the ISIS de facto capital in Syria.
Roughly three weeks ago, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces launched the Euphrates Wrath Operation, with support from the US-led coalition. The operation’s long-term objective is the isolation and elimination of the Islamic State in Raqqa.
During the first phase of Euphrates Wrath, SDF soldiers captured an area measuring approximately 560 km2, containing dozens of towns, villages and farms. Military sources told ARA News that more than 185 ISIS jihadists have been killed since November 6.
Meanwhile, ISIS has tightened its security measures inside the city of Raqqa. The group has arrested and punished dozens of people on charges of cooperating with the US-led coalition and the SDF.
Woman Crucified
On November 4, the Islamic State’s militants executed and crucified a woman in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate, after accusing her of spying for Kurdish forces, activists and eyewitnesses reported.
Asmaa Muhammad, 41, was arrested by the ISIS-led Islamic Police –also known as Diwan al-Hisba– in a village in Deir ez-Zor countryside under the pretext that she has communicated with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The YPG and other factions of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been in fight with ISIS for more than two years.
The victim was arrested in the Hawij al-Bumaasa village in eastern Deir ez-Zor. “The Sharia Court accused her of spying for hostile Kurdish forces and ordered her execution,” local media activist Ahmed Ramadan told ARA News.
Asmaa was shot dead and then crucified in a public square in central Deir ez-Zor. Hundreds of people witnessed the brutal execution. “Her body was covered with blood when they brutally crucified her. They banned the people from approaching the body,” an eyewitness told ARA News.
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Mosul Civilians Fear Cold, Hunger of Winter Siege
[AsharqAl-Awsat] With No food or fuel reaching distressed Mosul in nearly a week and the onset of rain and cold weather threatens a tough winter for more than a million people still in areas of the city still held by terror group ISIS, residents said on Saturday.
A trader in Mosul, speaking by telephone, said no new food or fuel supplies had reached the city since Sunday.
“We’ve been living under a real state of siege for a week,” said one resident of west Mosul, several kilometers from the frontline neighborhoods on the east bank of the Tigris river.
“Two days ago the electricity generator supplying the neighborhoods stopped working because of lack of fuel. Water is cut and food prices have risen and it’s terribly cold. We fear the days ahead will be much worse.”
Iraqi troops waging a six-week-old offensive against the militants controlling Mosul have advanced into eastern city districts, while other forces have sealed Mosul’s southern and northern approaches and 10 days ago blocked the road west.
But advances have been hampered by waves of counter-attacks from the ultra-hardline Islamists who have controlled the city since mid-2014 and built a network of tunnels in preparation for their defense of north Iraq’s largest city.
The slow progress means the campaign is likely to drag on throughout the winter, and has prompted warnings from aid groups that civilians face a near complete siege in the coming months.