Focus: The Iraqi Shiite Militias and the Mosul offensive

A spokesman for the Iraqi Shiite militias said thousands of fighters "started operations this morning to clean up the hotbeds of Daesh (Islamic State) in the western parts of Mosul”. Accordong to Reuters, “their goal is to cut off any option of retreat by Islamic State insurgents into neighboring Syria or any reinforcement for their defense of Mosul." Iraqi Shiite militias are backed by Iran, but first of all they are Iraqi patriots strongly dedicated to fight Islamic State. Their contribution is essential to win this battle. They will weaken Islamic State and help the Iraqi army and the U.S. troops who are suppporting this operation (5,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Iraq.)

Amnesty International has reported that Iraqi Shiite militias in previous campaigns have committed "serious human rights violations, including war crimes" against Sunni civilians. The Iraq government says that violations were limited and were investigated, denies that they were widespread and systematic. It is up to the Iraq government and army to make sure that in the Mosul offensive the Shiite militias’ conduct complies with the international humanitarian law which seeks to protect civilians who are not participating in hostilities and regulate the means of warfare available to combatants. But the fact is that in Iraq the Shiites have been the victims of the Sunni Islamic State terrorism. Recently there has been a spike in violence perpetrated by the Islamic State against the Iraqi Shiites with frequent bombings on streets, markets, mosques, army and police stations. According to a July statement of a senior Baghdad police officer, there are around six to ten explosions every day.

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