Mosul: Homes Turned Into Graves

2.9.17

Mosul: Homes Turned Into Graves: [stopwar.org.uk] With the rough estimates of the dead from the neighborhood reaching into the thousands, relatives have angrily questioned the way the battle was fought by Iraqi forces and their partners in the U.S.-led military coalition, which carried out airstrikes in support. The concerns over civilian casualties have become more urgent as U.S.-backed forces redouble their efforts to defeat the Islamic State in the militants’ final redoubts in Iraq and Syria.

Time after time in Mosul, civilians were killed in a similar, disturbing pattern: Islamic State militants kidnapped families as human shields in houses that served as the fighters’ garrisons. Snipers took up positions on rooftops, firing at Iraqi troops or coalition planes. Then the houses were bombed, sometimes by artillery or airstrikes and with little apparent regard for the people inside, relatives and survivors said.