ISIS occupation of Mosul

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On June 10, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant took control of Mosul, after the Iraqi troops stationed there fled.[1][2] Troop shortages and infighting among top officers and Iraqi political leaders played into ISIL's hands and fueled panic that led to the city's abandonment.[3] Kurdish intelligence had been warned by a reliable source in early 2014 that ISIL would attack Mosul, and ex-Baathists had informed the U.S. and the UK,[4] but Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Defence Minister turned down repeated offers of help from the Peshmerga. Half a million people escaped on foot or by car during the next two days.[5]

ISIL acquired three divisions' worth of up-to-date American arms and munitions—including M1129 Stryker 120-mm mortars and at least 700 armoured Humvee vehicles from the then fleeing, or since massacred, Iraqi Army.[6] Many residents initially welcomed ISIL,[7] and according to a member of the UK's Defence Select Committee, Mosul "fell because the people living there were fed up with the sectarianism of the Shia-dominated Iraqi government."[6]

Iraqi soldiers drive past an ISIL sign in eastern Mosul, January 2017.

On 21 January 2015, the U.S. began coordinating airstrikes with a Kurdish-launched offensive, to help them begin the planned operation to retake Mosul.[8]

Once home to at least 70,000 Assyrian Christians, there were possibly none left in Mosul after ISIL took over; any who remained were forced to pay a tax for remaining Christian and lived under a constant threat of violence.[9][10] The indigenous Assyrians of ancient Mesopotamian ancestry, whose history in the region dates back over 5,000 years, saw their churches and monasteries vandalized and burned down,[11] their ancient Assyrian heritage sites dating to the Iron Age destroyed, and their homes and possessions seized by ISIL.[12] They also faced ultimatums to either convert to Islam, leave their ancient homelands, or be murdered.[12][13]

According to western and pro-Iraqi government press, Mosul residents were de facto prisoners,[14] forbidden to leave the city unless they left ISIL a significant collateral of family members, personal wealth and property. They could then leave after paying a significant "departure tax"[15] for a three-day pass (for a higher fee they could surrender their home, pay the fee and leave for good) and if those with a three-day pass failed to return within that time, their assets would be seized and their family killed.[16]

Most female Yazidis from Mosul and the greater Mosul region (Nineveh) were imprisoned and occasionally killed for resistance[17] to being sold as sex slaves.[18] ISIL killed or expelled most minority groups and forcibly converted some Yazidi males and Christians to Islam. Women were required to cover their bodies from head to foot in a strict variant of Sharia rule, and men were required to fully grow their beards and hair in line with ISIL edicts. Life in Mosul was one of violent oppression, where people suspected of activism against the occupiers, resistance activities, homosexuality, promiscuity or adultery were brutally and summarily tortured and murdered.[19]

The ISIL governor of Mosul, Alian Natiq Mabroush, was killed on 18 March 2016, along with ten other jihadist leaders, in a U.S. airstrike.[20]

During the occupation, residents fought back against ISIL. In one notable incident, they killed five ISIL militants and destroyed two of their vehicles.[21]

While ISIL ruled Mosul with an extreme monopolization of violence and committed many acts of terror, some scholars argue that it also had a highly efficient bureaucratic government that ran a highly functioning state within Mosul's borders via sophisticated diwans (governing bodies).[22]

Women[]

Women were required to be accompanied by a male guardian[5][23] and wear clothing that covered their body completely, including gloves for the hands, a niqab for the head, and khimar for the full coverage of the body from shoulders to feet.[19] Failure to follow the regulations was punished by fines or male relatives being given 40 or more lashes.[24]

According to Canadian-based NGO the RINJ Foundation, which operates medical clinics in Mosul,[25] rape cases in the city prove a pattern of genocide, and will lead to a conviction of genocide against the ISIL in the International Criminal Court.[26][27]

In August 2015, ISIL was reported to be selling captured women and girls to sex slave traders.[28]

Persecution of religious and ethnic minorities and destruction of cultural sites[]

ISIL issued an edict expelling (in effect ethnically cleansing) the remaining predominantly ethnic Assyrian and Armenian Christian Mosul citizens after they refused to attend a meeting to discuss their future status. According to Duraid Hikmat, an expert on minority relationships and resident of Mosul, the Christians were afraid to attend.[29] Emboldened ISIL authorities systematically destroyed and vandalized Abrahamic cultural artifacts, such as the cross from St. Ephrem's Cathedral, the tomb of Jonah, and a statue of the Virgin Mary. ISIL militants destroyed and pillaged the Tomb of Seth. Artifacts from the tomb were removed to an unknown location.[30]

Students from Muslim Shia and Sufi minorities were also abducted.[31]

According to a UN report, ISIL forces persecuted ethnic groups in and near Mosul. The Assyrians, Kurds, Armenians, Yazidis, Turcoman, Mandeans, Kawliya and Shabaks were victims of unprovoked, religiously motivated murders, assaults, theft, kidnappings, and the destruction of their cultural sites.[29]

  • Mosque of the Prophet Yunus or Yunas (Jonah): On one of the two most prominent mounds of Nineveh ruins, used to rise the Mosque (an Assyrian Church year[clarification needed]) of Prophet Yunas "Biblical Jonah". Jonah (Yonan), the son of Amittai, from the 8th century BC, is believed to be buried here, where King Esarhaddon of Assyria once built a palace. It was one of Mosul's most important mosques, and one of the few historic mosques on the east side of the city. On 24 July 2014, the building was destroyed by explosives set by ISIL forces.[32]
  • Mosque of the Prophet Jerjis (Georges): The mosque is believed to be the burial place of Prophet Jerjis. Built of marble with shen reliefs and last renovated in 1393, it was mentioned by the explorer Ibn Jubair in the 12th century and is believed to include the tomb of Al-Hur bin Yousif.
  • Mashad Yahya Abul Kassem: Built in the 13th century, it was on the right bank of the Tigris and known for its conical dome, decorative brickwork and calligraphy engraved in Mosul blue marble.
  • Mosul library: Including the Sunni Muslim library, the library of the 265-year-old Latin Church and Monastery of the Dominican Fathers and the Mosul Museum Library. Among the 112,709 books and manuscripts thought lost are a collection of Iraqi newspapers dating from the early 20th century, as well as maps, books and collections from the Ottoman period; some were registered on a UNESCO rarities list. The library was ransacked and destroyed by explosives on 25 February 2015.[33]
  • Mosul Museum and Nergal Gate: Statues and artifacts that date from the Assyrian and Akkadian empires, including artefacts from sites including the Assyrian cities of Nineveh, Ashur, Arrapha, Dur-Sharrukin and Kalhu (Nimrud) and the Neo-Assyrian site of Hatra.[34][35] Their plans for extraction were accelerated when ISIL scheduled the destruction of the al-Ḥadbā[36]
  • Turkish diplomats and consular staff were detained for over 100 days.[37]

Human rights[]

Further information: Mass executions in ISIL occupied Mosul

Scores of people were executed without fair trial.[38][39] Civilians in Mosul were not permitted to leave ISIL-controlled areas. ISIL executed several civilians who tried to flee Mosul.[40]

Armed opposition[]

Iraqi army convoy in Mosul, 17 November 2016

The urban guerrilla warfare groups were called the Nabi Yunus Brigade after the Nabi Yunus mosque, or the Kataeb al-Mosul (Mosul Brigade).[41] The brigade claimed to have killed ISIL members with sniper fire.[42] In the countryside around Mosul, Kurdish and Assyrian militia also took up arms to resist ISIL oppression, and successfully repelled ISIL attacks on Kurdish and Assyrian towns and villages.[43][44]

References[]

  1. ^ "Iraqi insurgents seize city". BBC. 11 June 2014.
  2. ^ "Militant group seizes cities in Iraq". CNN. 11 June 2014.
  3. ^ "How Mosul fell – An Iraqi general disputes Baghdad's story". Reuters. 14 October 2014.
  4. ^ Spencer, Richard (22 June 2014). "How US and Britain were warned of Isis advance in Iraq but 'turned a deaf ear'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Since Islamic State swept into Mosul, we live encircled by its dark fear". The Guardian. 29 August 2014.
  6. ^ a b Holloway, Adam (26 September 2014). "Sharing a border with Isil – the world's most dangerous state". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  7. ^ "Under an ISIS Flag, the Sons of Mosul Are Rallying". The Daily Beast. 16 June 2014.
  8. ^ Morris, Loveday (January 22, 2015), "Kurds say they have ejected Islamic State militants from large area in Northern Iraq", The Washington Post, retrieved January 25, 2015
  9. ^ "You are being redirected..." Archived from the original on 2016-02-03.
  10. ^ Judit Neurink (June 19, 2014). "Mosul Christians Out of the City for Good". Rudaw.
  11. ^ "ISIS destroy the oldest Christian monastery in Mosul, Iraq". Archived from the original on 2016-02-02.
  12. ^ a b Hawramy, Fazel (24 July 2014). "'They are savages,' say Christians forced to flee Mosul by Isis" – via The Guardian.
  13. ^ "Patrick Cockburn reports on the brutal reality of life in Mosul under Isis". Independent.co.uk. 9 November 2014.
  14. ^ Loveday morris (October 19, 2015). "Isis in Iraq: Mosul residents are paying traffickers and risking their lives to escape cruel grip of Islamic State". The Independent.
  15. ^ Sinan Salaheddin (March 13, 2015). "ISIS Blocks Trapped Residents From Leaving Iraq's Mosul". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on August 25, 2015.
  16. ^ Abdelhak Mamoun (Mar 11, 2015). "ISIS warns people of Mosul not to leave city". Iraqi News.
  17. ^ Micheal O'Brien (October 2, 2015). "Catching The ISIS Child Sex Slave Traders in Mosul Iraq". The RINJ Foundation.
  18. ^ Priya Joshi (3 May 2015). "Isis: Hundreds of Yazidi captives slaughtered in Mosul". International Business Times.
  19. ^ a b Laila Ahmed (9 June 2015). "Inside Mosul: What's life like under Islamic State?". BBC News.
  20. ^ "ISIS governor of Mosul killed in coalition airstrike – ARA News". 18 March 2016.
  21. ^ "Mosul residents clash with ISIS members - Iraqi News". 18 July 2016.
  22. ^ al-Tamimi, Aymenn (August 2015). "The Evolution in Islamic State Administration: The Documentary Evidence". Perspectives on Terrorism. 9.
  23. ^ "Islamic State crisis: Mother fears for son at Mosul school". BBC News. 29 September 2014.
  24. ^ "Fleeing Iraqi Women Tell of Harsh Treatment in Mosul - WSJ". Wall Street Journal. 21 November 2016.
  25. ^ Larry Hart. "The Heroes of Mosul". Times Of Israel.
  26. ^ "Rape in Conflict Is a War Crime, No Matter How You Spin It". Huffington Post / World Post. 25 August 2015.
  27. ^ "European Parliament resolution on the situation in Northern Iraq/Mosul". The European Parliament. The European Parliament. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  28. ^ "Jewish Schindler" Draws Backlash For Campaign To Save ISIS Sex Slaves". Vocativ.
  29. ^ a b Rubin, Alissa J (18 July 2014), "ISIS Forces Last Iraqi Christians to Flee Mosul", The New York Times, retrieved 1 August 2013
  30. ^ "ISIS destroys Prophet Sheth shrine in Mosul". Al Arabiya. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  31. ^ "Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Iraq: 6 July – 10 September 2014" (PDF). UNAMI and OHCHR. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  32. ^ "Isis militants blow up Jonah's tomb". The Guardian. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  33. ^ Buchanan, Rose Troup and Saul, Heather (25 February 2015) ISIS burns thousands of books and rare manuscripts from Mosul's libraries The Independent
  34. ^ "ISIL video shows destruction of Mosul artefacts". Al Jazeera. 27 Feb 2015.
  35. ^ Shaheen, Kareem (26 February 2015). "Isis fighters destroy ancient artefacts at Mosul museum". The Guardian.
  36. ^ Kariml, Ammar; Mojon, Jean-Marc (31 July 2014). "In Mosul, resistance against ISIS rises from city's rubble". The Daily Star. Lebanon. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  37. ^ Erkuş, Sevil (25 September 2014). "Mosul Consulate 'overpowered' by ISIL militants at the gates, Turkish hostage says". Hürriyet Daily News. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  38. ^ "UN Envoy Condemns Public Execution of Human Rights Lawyer, Ms. Sameera Al-Nuaimy". United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).
  39. ^ "Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Iraq: 6 July – 10 September 2014" (PDF). UNAMI Human Rights Office. Executions following illegal/irregular/unlawful courts, in disrespect of due process and fair trial standards
  40. ^ "ISIS: Mosul residents trapped". The Huffington Post. Mar 13, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-08-25.
  41. ^ Mezzofiore, Gianluca (30 July 2014). "Mosul Brigades: Local Armed Resistance to Islamic State Gains Support". International Business Times. UK. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  42. ^ "IS Cracks Down In Mosul, Fearing Residents Mobilizing Against Them". Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.
  43. ^ "The Assyrian Christian militia are keeping well-armed Isis at bay – but they are running out of ammunition". Independent.co.uk. 22 February 2015.
  44. ^ Cetti-Roberts, Matt (7 March 2015). "Inside the Christian Militias Defending the Nineveh Plains". Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
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