ISIS, Iraqi Government Forces Have Record of Laws of War Violations. HRW.

ISIS, Iraqi Government Forces Have Record of Laws of War Violations. HRW. (HRW).

Use of Child Soldiers.

ISIS and the PMF use children in their ranks. A man who fled Ramadi in May 2015, when ISIS controlled the city, said ISIS recruited children as young as 7 through the mosque or by force:

“Whoever had four sons had to give two to ISIS,” he said. “Whoever had three or two sons, had to give one.”

In August 2015, Human Rights Watch interviewed two children who managed to flee an ISIS training camp for over 340 children in Tel Afar. They said teachers trained older children in religious studies and boys aged 14 and over in combat. In Syria, ISIS and other groups used children in combat.

ISIS also prevents civilians from fleeing. In Fallujah, ISIS executed people trying to flee in March 2016, a lawyer in Baghdad who had a first-hand account told Human Rights Watch. Several people fleeing the Hawija area, in Kirkuk governorate, said that ISIS has mined fields to prevent people leaving, and executed people caught trying to escape. 

A young man fleeing Atshana village in Kirkuk, in September 2015, said ISIS shot at his group as they made a dash for the Kurdish front lines. Human Rights Watch spoke with several people who said that ISIS is not allowing anyone, including civilians, to leave Mosul at present. 

A civilian from ISIS-controlled Ba’aj, a town 160 kilometers west of Mosul, told Human Rights Watch that he had to pretend his wife was sick to be allowed to leave in May 2015. He said ISIS burned the car of another family because they tried to flee the town, warning them they would be killed if they tried again.

ISIS forces, in August 2014, attacked the city of Sinjar and surrounding areas in Ninewa province inhabited by many from the Yezidi religious minority. ISIS enslaved more than a thousand Yezidi women and girls and executed many Yezidi men.

An Annex on Military Matters of the Islamic State, a manual for its commanders, lists among the necessary attributes of an Islamic State commander, that he “observ[e] the rulings of war in their entirety” without specifying the nature of ISIS’ understanding of those rules. Read the full story here.

Video - Young Druze men from Israel inside an Israeli hospital chanting for Jabhat al-Nusra to come out

Hmmm.....It is called 'the Geneva convention'

Obama 'admin' Struggling to Find & Train Moderate Syrian Rebels.

Obama 'admin' Struggling to Find and Train Moderate Syrian Rebels. (Naharnet).

The U.S. is struggling to implement its training program for moderate Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State group, according to figures released Thursday by the Pentagon.

Only "100 to 200" fighters have actively begun training at U.S. sites in Jordan and Turkey, according to Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren, of the 5,000 forces the military says it wants to train over the year.

The Obama administration embarked on the program earlier this year under strong pressure from Congress, which allocated $500 million to finance it.

"This is a very difficult operation to undertake," Warren said. Slow-downs have occurred in the vetting of trainees. Some 6,000 Syrians have volunteered for training, and 1,500 passed the first stage of selection.

Pentagon Chief Ashton Carter told a congressional committee Wednesday that it is difficult to find fighters that are both moderate and willing to take on the IS group as their primary foe.

"It turns out to be very hard to identify people who meet both of those criteria," Carter said.

Besides difficulties of implementation, the training program is also going up against strategic difference between Washington and regional partners such as Turkey.

Ankara has claimed Washington's singular focus on the IS group weakens the fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

The U.S. is experiencing a similar training shortage in Iraq, where Carter said yesterday that Baghdad hasn't sent nearly enough forces to U.S. training facilities to help prepare its forces and retake areas held by IS jihadists. Hmmm.....The elusive 'moderate' rebel.........the 'White elephant' of Islam?

Video - Kurdish YPG Treating Injured ISIS in Gire Spi (Tell Abyad)

Video - Possible War Crimes evidence in East Ukraine: Frozen corpses with hands tied seen at Donetsk Airport

Video - Possible evidence of War Crimes in East Ukraine: Frozen corpses with hands tied seen at Donetsk Airport.(UANews).

Footage was shot during press tour organized by militants of the destroyed complex.

Disturbing video filmed amid the ruins of the airport showed dead prisoners of war purported to be Ukrainian soldiers, with their hands tied together.

The footage shot on Monday sparked online speculation that war crimes, illegal under the Geneva Convention, had been committed by Russian-backed militants at the destroyed complex.

One correspondent on the tour organized by militants in Donetsk was Alex Thomson, a reporter from UK broadcaster Channel Four. In an online blog, Thomson recounts he saw six bodies - with their hands tied with white electric cable, lying next to two burnt out vehicles and several live shells.

Militant leaders claimed those dead were Ukrainian soldiers. However, Thomson insisted the video is not conclusive evidence of a cold-blooded execution and questioned whether the dead soldiers were placed at Donetsk Airport for the world's media.

Social media users also speculated the soldiers' hands were tied to make transportation easier. This is not the first time militants have been accused of committing war crimes. Read the full story here.

Israeli study on Hamas use of ambulances/ hospitals for prohibited purposes.

Israeli study on Hamas use of ambulances/ hospitals for prohibited purposes by Amit Terror/Intel Info Ctr

Hamas and the other terrorist organizations have frequently made use of hospitals and other medical facilities for various military purposes. That is because they know the IDF does not attack medical facilities, and using a medical facility provides their terrorist operatives located there with a kind of immunity. For the same reason they use ambulances to move terrorist operatives and weapons from place to place in combat zones. They repeat the modus operandi in Operation Protective Edge. Read the full report here. (PDF).

Israel Captures 150 Palestinians in Gaza, suspected of carrying out terrorist attacks.

Source picture.

Israel Captures 150 Palestinians in Gaza, suspected of carrying out terrorist attacks.(Forward).

Israeli troops in southern Gaza arrested 150 Palestinians, dozens of whom surrendered voluntarily to the soldiers.

About 70 of the arrested Gazan Palestinians, who are suspected of carrying out terrorist attacks, were transferred for interrogation, The Times of Israel reported, citing an IDF spokeswoman.

Dozens of the Palestinians, most believed to be members of Hamas, surrendered to the soldiers during raids on Rafah and Khan Yunis, according to the Times of Israel. All of the detainees were later released.

The IDF said in a statement issued on Thursday that several prominent field commanders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were targeted in recent days by both the IDF and the Shin Bet security service in a combined effort.

“All terrorists targeted were involved in many attacks against IDF soldiers in Gaza and in the firing of rockets at Israeli communities. They’ve also been central figures during Operation Protective Edge,” the IDF said in its statement.

The commanders were identified as: 

Acram Salah Mahmmar Sh’ar, in charge of Palestinian Islamic Jihad ‘s militant activity in the area of Khan Yunis including executing attacks against IDF forces on the Gaza border and of rockets fired from the area; 

 Mahmoud Awwad Ali Ziada , head of PIJ activity in the northern Gaza Strip; 

Shaben Haled Sha’aben Dahduh, head of PIJ activity in Gaza City region; 

and Sa’yeed Mahamed Nasser Au Mamer, head of PIJ activity in Rafah.

The Palestinian Maan news agency reported that 37 Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Thursday morning, bringing the Palestinian death toll on the 17th day of Israel’s operation to 734, with more than 4,000 injured.

Ban Ki-Moon Confused as Rockets Stored by terrorist group Hamas at Gaza UNRWA School Are Missing

Ban Ki-Moon Confused as Rockets Stored by terrorist group Hamas at Gaza UNRWA School Are Missing. (DailyBeast).

The United Nations secretary-general said on Wednesday that he was “alarmed” to hear that rockets that were hidden at a U.N.-run school in Gaza were missing. 

Ban Ki-moon said he was filled with “outrage and regret” that rockets had been stored at facilities overseen by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza.

His spokesperson said in email Wednesday that when these rockets were discovered “in accordance with standard practice, UNRWA handed them over to the local authorities,” but “since then, they have gone missing.”

The U.N. said at least twice during the recent course of violence between Israelis and Palestinian, rockets were discovered stockpiled in U.N. operated facilities. Since Hamas controls Gaza, Canada’s Foreign Affairs minister John Baird expressed concern that the rockets could fall into the group’s hands.

He said in a statement he was dismayed that “officials with the United Nations returned these weapons to Hamas, a listed terrorist organization, once Israeli officials discovered their location.”Read the full story here.

Private jets, restaurants, luxury hotels: the good life of senior Terrorist group Hamas officials.

Protected by U.S. 'Ally' Qatar

Private jets, restaurants, luxury hotels: the good life of senior Terrorist group Hamas officials.(YnetNews).

Hamas leaders have been often seen in recent days talking about the suffering of the residents of Gaza. But while most Palestinians are faced with shortages and restrictions on movement in the Gaza Strip, this is far from the case for officials from Hamas, which has been the de facto ruler there since throwing out political rivals Fatah in 2007.

As reported recently in Ynet, Hamas has millions in assets, and it seems that the wealth extends to day-to-day life as well as investments and fat bank accounts. For them, life is about private jets and luxury, not war planes and hunger.

But as the IDF's Operation Protective Edge, triggered by Hamas rocket fire on Israel, continues, more and more voices can be heard inside and outside of Gaza attacking the movement and its leaders' ostentatious lifestyle.

On Sunday, Egyptian officials sharply criticized Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal, stating that "while the Hamas leadership lives in luxury hotels, it is abandoning the innocent Palestinian people, who are being killed in their dozens."

These claims are just the attacks - unprecedented in their intensity – directed at Mashal, Hamas leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, and the Hamas leadership outside the country, mostly by groups aligned to Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi.

According to sources in Hamas, the movement's leadership abroad was one of the opponents to the Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire in Gaza, while the leadership in the Strip, which is closer to the Gazan citizens, was more inclined to accept. But now, as part of the criticism against Hamas, old photos have resurfaced of Mashal in Qatar, exercising in the gym, playing tennis, watching TV and dining at a restaurant with full table in front of him.

One of the most prominent voices in this protest is Egyptian journalist Ahmad Musa, who is a clear al-Sisi supporter. On one of his recent programs for the "Sda al-Balad" channel , Musa presented the same images of Mashal working out in Qatar, and reminded the Hamas leader that, "the jihad is in Gaza." Then, with the image of Mashal on an exercise bike in the background, Musa said: "This is the jihad before the meal to break the (Ramadan) fast. Before the meal he does sports, then he eats the honored meal, then he closely follows the television."Hmmm.....Why are terrorist leaders allowed to freely move around in US 'Allies' their countries?Read and see the full story here.

Video - Qatar Friday Sermon: Allah, Kill the Jews, Freeze the Blood in Their Veins

Video - PM Netanyahu presents to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Rockets and operating methods of Hamas

Video - Warning Call to Wafa Hospital Before IDF Targets Site.

 HT: IDF.

Hamas has turned Wafa Hospital into a command center and a rocket-launching site. Hamas has fired at Israel and at IDF forces from the hospital. As a result, the IDF repeatedly conveyed warnings to the hospital staff and urged civilians to leave the area. Hamas continued firing from the hospital. In response, the IDF targeted specific sites and terrorists within the hospital grounds. Secondary explosions can be seen, confirming IDF intellgience about the site.

Raw VIDEO - City of Torez Donetsk, car paint shop fire after Ukraine army shelling

Warning graphic video - 'Hezbollah fighters executing wounded Syrian rebels.'

Warning graphic video - 'Hezbollah fighters executing wounded Syrian rebels.'(AA).

A video posted on the internet shows members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia executing wounded Syrian rebels who were captured when the Syrian town of al-Qusair was recaptured in June by the Syrian regime forces backed by Hezbollah’s army.

The battle over al-Qusair marked the first publically declared engagement of Hezbollah in the Syrian conflict, with group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah vowing not to allow Syrian rebels take Syrian towns bordering Lebanon.
The video is expected to revive tensions in Lebanon between the Shiite Hezbollah and Sunni Islamists supporting the Syrian uprising.
Lebanese journalist Lokman Sleem said the video further indicts Hezbollah and “confirms that the group’s intervention in Syria wasn’t in the name of Allah but in the name of Iran and its interests.”
But Lebanese political analyst Kassem Kassir defended Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria saying that it “protected Lebanon from the repercussions of war” and sided with the Syrian people against “extremist groups.”
He said Syria is a strategic passage of military aid flowing from Iran to Hezbollah, and that the militia group would not allow the supply routes to be controlled by its foes –the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
He pointed out that the video’s authenticity cannot be confirmed and that Nasrallah previously pledged to respect to the moral rule of war, a claim Journalist Sleem rejected.

Sleem said Hezbollah fighters previously exhibited and offered for sale in northern Lebanon the boots of dead Syrian rebels.

Video - 'Rules of Engagement' - The moment when rebels in Syria trying to shoot Syrian Pilot on parachute.

Turkey ‘fully transparent’ regarding rules of engagement: US State Department.

Turkey ‘fully transparent’ regarding rules of engagement: US State Department.(HD)

Turkey has been “fully transparent” about the rules of engagement in its military stance against Syria, the U.S. State Department said Sept. 17, a day after the Turkish army downed a Syrian helicopter violating its airspace.

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said the United States had remained in close contact with Turkish officials after the incident.

“We note that the Turkish government has been fully transparent about the rules of engagement it is operating under since the Syrian government shot down a Turkish aircraft last year,” Psaki told reporters referring to the Turkish F-4 Phantom warplane crashed into the Mediterranean on June 22, 2012, after being shot down by Syria.

Psaki said the helicopter was shot down after violating Turkish airspace and ignoring warnings transmitted by Turkish officials.

The State Department spokesperson also emphasized that as a member of NATO, Washington was committed to Turkey’s defense.

“Turkey is a friend and NATO ally, and we are committed to Turkey’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Psaki said.

Shortly earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also said the army was instructed to act according to the rules of engagement in case of a border violation. 

“When the warnings were not heeded, the Turkish Armed Forces executed the rules of engagement and did what was necessary,” he told reporters during a press conference in Ankara with Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had also invoked the rules of engagement, adding that the army had performed “a punitive action” for the border violation.Hmmm......“a punitive action” does this mean 'beheading the Syrian pilot' as well?

Irish Lawmaker Calls Obama a War Criminal and "is this person going for the hypocrite of the century award?"

Irish Lawmaker Calls Obama a War Criminal and "is this person going for the hypocrite of the century award?"HT: Reagancoalition.

President Barack Obama’s use of drones coupled with his decision to provide arms to Syrian rebels prompted one outspoken Irish lawmaker to refer to him as a “war criminal” and “hypocrite of the century,” following his G8 summit visit.

Parliamentarian Clare Daly said Ireland had displayed itself “as a nation of pimps, prostituting ourselves in return for a pat on the head,” according to The Irish Times.

The “unprecedented slobbering” during the president’s visit to Northern Ireland, she said, had even led to speculation that “you were going to deck the Cabinet out in leprechaun hats decorated with a bit of stars and stripes to really mark abject humiliation.”

“We’ve had very little challenging of the fact that [Michelle Obama’s] glad to be home,” she said. “‘Home’ a country she’s been in less than a week and her husband has very tenuous links in.”

After referring to the president’s speech on peace to children in Northern Ireland, Daly asked, “is this person going for the hypocrite of the century award? Because we have to call things by their proper names, and the reality is by any serious examination, this man is a war criminal.”

“This is the man who is in essence stalling the Geneva peace talks by trying to broker enhanced leverage for the Syrian opposition by giving them arms — and to hell with the thousands more who’ll lose their lives, or the tens of thousands who will be displaced,” Daly said.

“This is the man who has facilitated a 200 percent increase in the use of drones which have killed thousands of people, including hundreds of children.”Read the full story here.

Syrian rebel Khalid al-Hamad defends gruesome video as revenge.

Syrian rebel Khalid al-Hamad defends gruesome video as revenge.(AA).A Syrian rebel who was filmed apparently cutting out and eating the organs of a soldier has defended his actions as revenge for regime atrocities, Time magazine reported on Tuesday.

The U.S. news weekly said it had talked by Skype with the fighter, identified as Khalid al-Hamad, who appeared in a video that sparked outrage and condemnation, including from the Syrian opposition.

Hamad claimed he was driven to the gruesome acts by footage on the dead soldier’s cellphone, showing him “humiliating” a naked woman and her two daughters.

The magazine said Hamad described participating in another acts of mutilating regime forces, including militiamen known as shabiha. “I have another video clip... In the clip I am sawing another shabiha with a saw. The saw we use to cut trees. I sawed him in small pieces and large ones,” Time quoted him as saying.

The magazine said Hamad, a Sunni like much of the opposition fighting against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, expressed hatred of member’s of the leader’s Alawite sect.

He also insisted that the rebel, identified as Hamad, had been “previously ejected” from his unit “because of his history of brutality.”

“Hopefully we will slaughter all of them,” he told the magazine, “They were the ones who killed our children in Baba Amr and raped our women,” he said, referring to a neighborhood of the central city of Homs.

“We didn’t start it, they started it,” he added. “Our slogan is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

The video, in which Hamad leans over a uniformed body, cuts out organs and then holds one up to his mouth, has prompted both outrage and condemnation.

The United States on Tuesday denounced the actions of a Syrian rebel filmed cutting out and eating the organs of a dead soldier, but insisted it was the act of a lone brutal individual. “We’re appalled by this video, and we’ve been very clear that all sides in this conflict must abide by international humanitarian law,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters. Washington had “raised this gruesome act in our recent conversations with leaders of the Supreme Military Council, who assured us that they do not support such actions and that this is not representative of the vast majority of the armed opposition,” he added.

The National Coalition, the country’s main political opposition grouping, issued a statement saying it “strongly condemns” the act. “The Coalition stresses that such an act contradicts the morals of the Syrian people, as well as the values and principles of the Free Syrian Army,” it said. “The Syrian Coalition reiterates its condemnation of such an act and stresses that it is a crime, regardless of the perpetrator. “The culprit will eventually be tried in court in front of an honest and fair judiciary.”

Human Rights Watch said condemnation alone was not sufficient. “It is not enough for Syria’s opposition to condemn such behavior or blame it on violence by the government,” said Nadim Houry, Middle East deputy director at the New York-based watchdog.“The opposition forces need to act firmly to stop such abuses.”Read the full story here.

More here: Syrian rebel atrocity video: No apology for ‘revenge’, more clips promised

Video - Syrian opposition “Independent Omar al-Farouq” brigade commander mutilating Syrian soldiers corpse, bites Liver.

Video - Syrian opposition “Independent Omar al-Farouq” brigade commander mutilating Syrian soldiers corpse, bites Liver.HT: HumanrightsWatch.
Human Rights Watch has reviewed graphic evidence that appears to show a commander of the Syrian opposition “Independent Omar al-Farouq” brigade mutilating the corpse of a pro-government fighter. The figure in the video cuts the heart and liver out of the body and uses sectarian language to insult Alawites. The same brigade was implicated in April 2013 in the cross-border indiscriminate shelling of the Lebanese Shi’a villages of al-Qasr and Hawsh al-Sayyed.

It is not known whether the Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade operates within the command structure of the Free Syrian Army. But the opposition Syrian National Coalition and the Free Syrian Army leadership should take all possible steps to hold those responsible for war crimes accountable and prevent such abuses by anyone under their command. Any party with the power to do so should do all it can to keep weapons from reaching the brigade. Human Rights Watch repeated its call to the United Nations Security Council to refer the Syria situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure accountability for all war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“One important way to stop Syria’s daily horrors, from beheadings to mutilations to executions, is to strip all sides from their sense of impunity,” said Nadim Houry, Middle East deputy director at Human Rights Watch. “These atrocities are shocking but so is the obstruction of some Security Council members that still do not support an ICC referral for all sides.”

In the video obtained by Human Rights Watch, a man identified by the person filming the incident as Abu Sakkar is filmed cutting the chest of a dead uniformed fighter, and removing the heart and liver from the corpse. The person filming the incident then comments, while “Abu Sakkar” is cutting out the corpse’s liver: “God Bless you, Abu Sakkar, you look like you are drawing [carving] a heart of love on him.” After Abu Sakkar completes the cutting out of the corpse’s heart and liver, he is filmed holding the heart and liver in his hands and speaks into the camera:

I swear to God, soldiers of Bashar, you dogs – we will eat your heart and livers! Takbir! God is Great! Oh my heroes of Baba Amr, you slaughter the Alawites and take their hearts out to eat them!

At the end of the video, after that statement, the man called Abu Sakkar is filmed putting the corpse’s heart into his mouth, as if he is taking a bite out of it. Because of the extremely graphic and disturbing nature of the video, Human Rights Watch has decided not to publicly release the footage, although an edited and blurred version is available on the internet.

By comparing frames of the mutilation video to other videos showing what appears to be the same man participating in the shelling that indiscriminately hit Lebanese Shi’a villages and talking about killed Hezbollah fighters, Human Rights Watch believes the person in the video to be Commander Abu Sakkar. Journalists and other commanders have said that Abu Sakkar is the nom de guerre of a former commander from the mainstream al-Farouq Brigade from the Baba Amr district of Homs, in Syria.

Four international journalists told Human Rights Watch that they met him during or after the battle of Homs in 2011 and 2012. Several other videos posted by the Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade also show the man known as Abu Sakkar, wearing the same jacket as in the mutilation video, loading rockets into an improvised rocket launcher before apparently firing them into Lebanon at Shi’a villages in the Bekaa Valley. In yet another video, Abu Sakkar appears with what he claims are the bodies of killed Hezbollah fighters in the town of al-Qusayr.

The laws of war prohibit any mutilation of dead bodies. As set out by the International Committee of the Red Cross’s study of customary international humanitarian law, this rule requires that “each party to the conflict must take all possible measures to prevent the dead from being despoiled.” Under the Rome Statute of the ICC, “outrage upon personal dignity” is a war crime, which includes humiliating, degrading, or otherwise violating the dignity of a dead body.

When asked about the video, Maj. Gen. Salim Idriss, Chief of Staff for the Supreme Military Council of the opposition, told TIME Magazine that “such violence is unacceptable, and no soldier under the council’s command would be allowed to get away with such actions.” However, opposition forces have not set up proper accountability mechanisms for abuses committed by their members.

“It is not enough for Syria’s opposition to condemn such behavior or blame it on violence by the government,” Houry said. “The opposition forces need to act firmly to stop such abuses.”Hmmmm......Reminds me of the lynching of two Israeli soldiers who strayed into the wrong part of Ramallah, the 'Palestinians' tore them limb from limb and paraded around with their entrails.Read the full story here.

Video - Taliban torture captured POW.

Taliban torture captured POW from Tarek Fatah on Vimeo.


HT: TarekFatah.CAUTION - Graphic Violence: This is a video clip showing Taliban commanders watching the spectacle of the public beating of a POW (either a Pakistan or Afghan Army soldier). This may be a War Crime being committed in the eyes of the civilized world, but the Taliban employ the rules of war set in the tradition of Islamic Sharia where torturing, killing and raping captured POWs is the rule of the game.Hmmm.......Obama and Karzai agree to allow the Taliban to open an office in Qatar.