ISIS’s destruction of the Great Mosque of Mosul continues the trail of destruction with which ISIS has become associated since its formation. It is a cultural tragedy of appalling proportions, destroying one of the great monuments of Islamic Arab architecture and art.
Alleged deployment of white phosphorus munitions in Raqqa, Syria. as reported by ISIS-linked Amaq news. (Photo: YouTube)
Earlier this month, multiple reports surfaced of US-led coalition forces in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria, using the incendiary chemical weapon, white phosphorus, on civilians. For over a week, the US government and the coalition at large have remained silent on the issue — until now.
(TFC) — The United States has started mass deportations of Iraqi Christians. The Christians will be sent to an area with an active war zone, many have been told they will be sent to Mosul, a location with an active ISIS presence. They will be murdered if their religious affiliation is discovered.
Though the battle against ISIS for Mosul – Iraq’s second city – has taken much longer than most people expected, it appears that the battle for Mosul may be finally drawing to an end.
News yesterday spoke of significant advances by the Iraqi army in western Mosul, with the Iraqi army finally reaching Mosul’s Old City, which however is still controlled by ISIS. More reports today speak of Iraqi troops entering Mosul’s Old City, and capturing an area in its northern part.
(ANTIWAR.COM) Multiple videos are making the rounds this week of white phosphorus artillery shells being fired into the Iraqi city of Mosul by Iraqi forces. Though the use of white phosphorus for illumination is technically legal under international law, its high temperature and toxic properties make it wholly unsuitable for use in an urban environment, and such use is almost certainly a war crime.
Contrary to Iraqi state propaganda and the statements of those hoping against hope that Iraq might at some point recover from decades of war and chaos, the sectarianism unleashed by George W. Bush and Tony Blair’s war on Iraq in 2003 continues to dictate events in the ravaged nation.
In February of 1963, the Ramadan Revolution brought the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party to power in Iraq for the first time. The next month, the March 8 Revolution in neighbouring Syria brought the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party to power in Damascus.
(ANTIWAR.COM) Pentagon officials are reporting that they are hiking the US military “footpriint” as well as “combat power” in southern Syria in recent days, sending more troops into the area with a specific eye toward fighting against the Shi’ite militias that are trying to advance, hoping to connect Syrian government terr
(MEE) The US military has continued to assist an Iraqi special forces unit that has been banned from receiving training and equipment for human rights abuses, ABC News reported on Wednesday night.
(ANTIWAR.COM) Reports of civilian deaths in US airstrikes in Western Mosul appear to be once again soaring out of control, as indications of just over a dozen civilians slain has turned into in a flurry of airstrikes targeting ISIS-held neighborhoods in the Old City.
