Iraq News
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Iraqi forces prepare for al-Hawijah offensive

By Khalid al-Taie

Kirkuk police clash with the 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant'. Iraqi forces are preparing for an offensive to liberate the province's al-Hawijah district. [Photo courtesy of the Kirkuk police directorate]

Kirkuk police clash with the 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant'. Iraqi forces are preparing for an offensive to liberate the province's al-Hawijah district. [Photo courtesy of the Kirkuk police directorate]

Iraqi forces are preparing to liberate the city of al-Hawijah from the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) in response to a request filed by Kirkuk officials, provincial authorities said last week.

The appeal came as ISIL detained thousands of civilians as they attempted to flee al-Hawijah district in south-western Kirkuk, with reports indicating that a number of them had been executed by the group's fighters.

Provincial and local officials appealed to Iraqi forces "to intervene quickly to eliminate ISIL elements in al-Hawijah and liberate the city from their grip", said deputy governor of Kirkuk Rakan al-Jubouri.

Iraqi leadership responded positively to the request to free the city, which has been suffering for some time under an ISIL siege, he told Diyaruna.

"We hope the operation to liberate al-Hawijah begins quickly and the terrorists are expelled," al-Jubouri said.

There are military units stationed around the city already, he explained, but not enough to carry out the operation.

Al-Hawijah is a sizable city, with six administrative units and a population of about half a million, he said, and it became a base for ISIL fighters who fled northern Diyala, Salaheddine and Anbar provinces after Iraqi forces liberated those areas.

Fleeing civilians ambushed

In recent weeks, thousands of residents of the villages of al-Aisalaneh, al-Seihah and Um Kaseer have fled the area as a result of the "violations, poverty, hunger and difficult life" they have had to endure under ISIL's control, al-Jubouri said.

"The terrorists ambushed these fugitives, who are mostly women and children, and detained them," he said.

There have been reports that ISIL executed a number of detained youth inside al-Bakarah, a former Iraqi army camp east of al-Hawijah, he said.

"The confirmed details received from al-Hawijah indicate that ISIL has detained at least 3,000 people who tried to flee their villages under its control," said Iraqi MP Mohammed Tamim, who represents Kirkuk province.

"The terrorists herded these citizens in groups and held them in trenches, schools and homes," he told Diyaruna. "Some of them were held in the open under inhumane and very difficult conditions."

"The group has executed 60 young detainees so far by shooting them," Tamim said, adding that this number may increase.

He called on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and "leaders of the joint military operations to take swift action and save the detained citizens who are facing the threat of genocide at the hands of ISIL".

Residents of al-Hawijah have been suffering since ISIL overran the city in June 2014, Tamim said.

"Our figures confirm that about 7,000 residents of al-Hawijah were executed, 5,000 were subject to forced disappearance and 6,600 homes were destroyed in the past two years," he said.

Tribal forces will join the fight

"Members of al-Hawijah tribes of al-Obied, Jabour, Albouhamdan and others are all with the security forces and are ready to participate in fighting ISIL," said Sheikh Anwar al-Asi, head of al-Obeid tribe in al-Hawijah.

"We currently have about 2,000 volunteer fighters registered officially as part of tribal mobilisation forces for the district of al-Hawijah," he said. "They are currently involved with the army and local police and ready to begin any military operation to liberate the city."

Al-Asi said he believes that a large number of residents trapped in al-Hawijah will join the fight against ISIL once the operation to liberate the city begins.

But he warned that city residents face a humanitarian catastrophe at the hands of ISIL, noting that the group's elements have started to kill displaced families who have fallen in their hands.

"They started taking one young man from each family and shooting him dead in front of his family, according to confirmations we received from local residents and eyewitnesses," he said. "We fear that things will get out of control and a terrible massacre will take place."

"We are at the disposal of the state, and we are willing to sacrifice ourselves to rescue our people and restore our areas," al-Asi said.

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