Archives for 2017

Rights group calls for investigation into whether war crimes were committed in the battle to retake the city from ISIL.

More than 890,000 people were displaced due to fighting in Mosul [Felipe Dana/AP]

Amnesty International has said it had identified a pattern of attacks by Iraqi forces and the US-led military coalition backing them that violated international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

It also said that ISIL fighters flagrantly violated that same law by deliberately putting civilians in harm’s way to shield its fighters and impede the advance of Iraqi and coalition forces.

In a report published a day after the Iraqi forces declared victory in city, the human rights watchdog called for a thorough investigation into whether war crimes were committed in the battle for the city.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi formally declared victory in Mosul on Monday, three years after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group seized the city.

With air support from the US-led coalition, Iraqi forces launched the battle for Mosul in October, retaking the eastern part of the city in January and starting the operation for its western part the next month.

‘Disproportionate attacks’

Amnesty said Iraqi forces and the coalition carried out a series of unlawful attacks in west Mosul, relying heavily on Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions (IRAMs), explosive weapons with crude targeting capabilities that wreaked havoc in densely populated areas.

“Even in attacks that seem to have struck their intended military target, the use of unsuitable weapons or failure to take other necessary precautions resulted in needless loss of civilian lives and in some cases appears to have constituted disproportionate attacks,” the report said.

Amnesty also slammed ISIL for a host of crimes that have been documented previously.

According to the report, ISIL fighters rounded up residents in contested villages and neighbourhoods and forced them to move into conflict zones in west Mosul for use as human shields. As clashes neared, they trapped the civilians inside houses without access to food or medical care, it said.

Amnesty acknowledged the challenges of protecting civilians given ISIL tactics, but blamed Iraqi authorities and the US-led coalition for failing to take feasible precautions to protect civilians from air strikes. It said leaflet drops warning of attacks had been virtually useless because ISIL heavily restricted civilian movement.

Neither the Iraqi defence ministry nor coalition officials were immediately available to comment on the Amnesty report.

Chatham House fellow Renad Mansou told Al Jazeera that while “war crimes have certainly” been committed by all sides in Mosul, the extent remains to be unknown.

“The question is whether the Iraqi goverment will be able to address the human right violations,” he said from London.

‘Hell on earth’

Also on Tuesday, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called for accountability and dialogue to heal the trauma of Mosul in the aftermath of the nearly nine-month long battle.

“The women, children and men of Mosul have lived through hell on earth, enduring a level of depravity and cruelty that is almost beyond words,” Zeid said.

The UN high commissioner demanded that the offenders be brought to justice and all violations thoroughly probed. He also urged Iraq to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“The root causes of violence and conflict in Iraq need to be addressed in terms of human rights violations suffered by all communities in the country over several decades. Only then can secure foundations be laid for the lasting peace that the Iraqi people deserve,” Zeid said.

He added that “ISIL forced tens of thousands of people from their homes in and around the city and used them as human shields, a war crime under international humanitarian law and a violation of the most basic standards of human dignity and morality”.

The UN said on Monday there was no end in sight to Iraq’s humanitarian crisis.

Of the more than 897,000 people displaced from Mosul, the UN said thousands of residents will probably not be able to return to the city because of “extensive damage caused during the conflict”.

US secretary of state, while visiting Doha, says Qatar’s views in Gulf crisis have been clear and ‘very reasonable’.

Tillerson met with Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in Doha [Tom Finn/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters in Doha that the Qatari government had “reasonable” views in the month-old diplomatic crisis with Arab neighbours.

“I think Qatar has been quite clear in its positions, and I think those have been very reasonable,” Tillerson said after his arrival in Doha on Tuesday.

The quartet accuse Qatar of funding “terrorism”, an accusation Qatar rejects as “baseless”.

Tillerson is holding talks with Qatar’s emir and foreign minister on the second leg of his four-day trip to the Gulf to help seek a resolution to the crisis.

The US State Department said Tillerson would first meet with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, before holding talks with Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

The visit to Doha follows a meeting with the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and other senior Kuwaiti officials on Monday.

“We are trying to resolve an issue that concerns not just us but the whole world,” Sheikh Sabah told Tillerson.

US officials said Tillerson does not expect an immediate breakthrough, which they warned could be months away.

Rather, they said, he wants to explore possibilities for sparking negotiations.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar on June 5 and imposed a land, air and sea blockade on the country.

On June 22, they issued a 13-point list of demands, including the shutdown of Al Jazeera, limiting ties with Iran and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the country, as a prerequisite to lift the sanctions.

Doha rejected the demands and the countries now consider the list “null and void”.

Kuwait is still trying to mediate the dispute.

The US has been supporting Kuwait’s mediation efforts, but Tillerson’s trip marks a new level of US involvement.

Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Kuwait City, said Tillerson was basically visiting each side to “take the temperature in this dispute”.

“After some initial missteps from the White House, in which the president seemed to take sides with the Saudis and their allegations, the US’ position now is to try to shore up the Kuwait efforts to mediate the crisis and to try to bring some presure from Washington, if it’s appropiate,” she said.

Senior Tillerson adviser R.C. Hammond said the package of demands, as issued by Qatar’s neighbours, was not viable, but said there were individual items on the list “that could work”.

Hammond would not elaborate on which demands Qatar could meet, but said concessions from the others would be required.

“This is a two-way street,” he said of a dispute among parties who each have been accused of funding “extremists” in some way. “There are no clean hands.”