Daesh is Genocidal by Self-Proclamation
As international effort continues to halt and counter the momentum Daesh on launching terror in Iraq and Syria, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the terrorist group committed genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.
In his remarks in Washington DC, Secretary Kerry enumerated the atrocities committed by the notorious group.
“Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions – in what it says, what it believes, and what it does.” – Secretary Kerry
In addition, Daesh is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing against Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities.
Records of Atrocities and Brutalities
According to Secretary Kerry, amid lack of access as conflict continues to torment places in Iraq and Syria, the US has gathered vast amount of information as spearheaded by the State Department, by American intelligence community, by outside groups as well.
“And my conclusion is based on that information and on the nature of the acts reported.” – Secretary Kerry
August of 2014
According to Secretary Kerry, Daesh killed hundreds of Yazidi men and older women in the town of Kocho. The terrorist group even trapped tens of thousands of Yazidis on Mount Sinjar without allowing access to food, water, or medical care.
Thanks to US intervention, rescue efforts were conducted and they were able to save lives in Mount Sinjar.
Enslaving Yazidi women and girls
Daesh militants are notorious for enslaving women and girls as well. Once women were captured, they were then sold at auction, raped them, and destroyed the communities in which they had lived for countless generations.
Executing Christians
In Iraq particularly in Mosul, Qaraqosh, and elsewhere, Daesh has executed Christians because of religion and faith. Report made headlines that Daesh executed 49 Coptic and Ethiopian Christians in Libya. Worst thing also, the group forced Christian women and girls into sexual slavery.
Executing Shia Turkmen
Daesh also showed the group’s heartless image when they massacred hundreds of Shia Turkmen and Shabaks at Tal Afar and Mosul. They even besieged and starved the Turkmen town of Amerli. Also, they kidnapped hundreds of Shia Turkmen women and without mercy raped them in front of their own families.
Destroying cultural heritage
It seems Daesh too did not spare cultural heritage in showing to the world of the group’s brutalities. In fact, Daesh destroyed the cultural heritage of ancient communities destroying Armenian, Syrian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches. Monasteries and the tombs of prophets were destroyed as well. Inhumanely, they even beheaded the 83-year-old scholar who had spent a lifetime preserving antiquities there.
Kerry: Intention to Destroy an Ethnic group, an Element of genocide
According to Secretary Kerry, one element of genocide is the intent to destroy an ethnic or religious group in whole or in part.
“The fact is that Daesh kills Christians because they are Christians; Yazidis because they are Yazidis; Shia because they are Shia.” – Secretary Kerry
Secretary Kerry highlighted that the group kills innocent people based on their faith and eliminate those who do not subscribe to its perverse ideology.
US Anti-Terrorism In Iraq and Syria
The United States of America is working on a multiple-pressure strategy across what they call the core of Daesh in Iraq and Syria. It is a simultaneous pressure by suffocating and strangling them in the core. The coalition will also work to strangle Daesh’s international networks.
There are 30,000 foreign fighters from 100 countries around the world which is almost twice as many that went into Afghanistan in the ’80s. But 34 countries have now broken up foreign fighter plots.
Daesh Terror In Iraq
The fighters belong to the Islamic jihadist groups.
The terroristic moves were not something new for the group, known for its insurgency operations in Nineveh and other provinces.
Mosul was the second city to be seized by the militants in 2014. The Iraqi government lost control of Fallujah earlier in 2014.
At the time aggression raged in Mosul, the International Organization for Migration estimated the number of people displaced by violence in Mosul and surrounding areas of Ninewa Governorate reached 500,000.
Daesh still appears to receive funding from oil revenue and wealthy donors in the Arab Gulf states.
In August 2014, Assyrians in the US were reporting that Daesh was killing their families and friends in Iraq. WGN TV in Chicago reported that “The largest group of Iraqi Christians outside of Iraq lives in Chicago.”
