Pro-Iraqi forces fighting against ISIS have not been the heroes of the Iraqi people. The Human Rights Watch released a 31-page report on Wednesday that details accounts of the militias raiding and destroying villages after ISIS was driven out of those areas.
Volunteer fighters, Iraqi security forces, and Shiite militants have joined together to fight the Islamic State and push them back. The Islamic State has captured many cities in Iraq, and has since been battling with the Iraqi coalition. U.S. airstrikes and Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been aiding the coalition against the Islamic State.
The 31-page report, however, shows that civilians have suffered at the hands of the coalitions. Titled, "After Liberation Came Destruction: Iraqi Militias and the Aftermath of Amerli," the report records eye witness accounts, satellite imagery, interviews, and visual evidence of the looting and destruction of homes, businesses, and even entire villages.
"Peshmerga officers told Human Rights Watch they saw 47 villages in which militias had destroyed and ransacked homes, businesses, mosques, and public buildings," states the report.
The operation to free the city of Amerli from the grip of ISIS was followed with abuse of the civilian population. One resident of the town of Yengija told the Human Rights Watch what he saw when he went back to his hometown after having to escape.
"When I got there I saw that 99 percent of the houses in my neighborhood were burnt down and nothing was left…. While I was there we saw smoke rising from three different places. The smoke was coming from the areas in front of my house, near the main road near the militia offices…. The school was burnt down too, and they burnt three clinics and four mosques," he said.
The actions of the militia break the laws of war, and the HRW urges the international community to take action to ensure the safety of Iraqi citizens.
"Iraq can’t win the fight against ISIS’s atrocities with attacks on civilians that violate the laws of war and fly in the face of human decency,” said deputy Middle East and North Africa director Joe Stork. “Militia abuses are wreaking havoc among some of Iraq’s most vulnerable people and exacerbating sectarian hostilities."
