Die letzten Tage des IS in Mosul

Die Tage des Islamischen Staates in Mosul snd gezählt, bis auf enige Teile der Altstadt ist Mosul inzwischen befreit, wenn auch zu einem extrem hohen Preis. Seit Oktober dauern die Kämpfe nun schon an, für die Zivilisten, die in der Stadt de facto als Geiseln gehalten werden, ein einziger Alptraum.

Niqash berichtet über die Lage in der nordirakischen Stadt:

Word from inside Mosul makes it clear that the extremist group known as the Islamic State is preparing for their last stand.

“We are caught between the bombardment of the Iraqi military and the crimes committed against us by the Islamic State,” one Mosul resident, who is still trapped in the extremist-held areas, told NIQASH in a phone call. “In the past two weeks, the Islamic State fighters have killed more than 80 people around us. Some of them were our friends and neighbours. They torture them, mutilate their bodies after death and then hang the corpses on power poles.”

The sounds of shelling can be heard in the background during the phone call. “The Islamic State cars drove around the streets here with corpses,” the man continued. “They throw one or two bodies in each alleyway, in order to terrorize the people and prevent them from trying to escape.”

The Islamic State, or IS, group won’t hesitate to kill those trying to escape, he explained. “They say that any person who tries to go to areas not controlled by the IS group and not part of their caliphate must be an infidel, and therefore deserves death.”  

It seems as though many of the IS fighters know that they must soon make their last stand and they appear to have chosen the Mosul neighbourhoods in which this will happen, even renaming the areas.