Iraq: ISIS Demands $2500 in Extorted Money from Civilians Willing to Leave Fallujah
The ISIL terrorist group has conditioned
the exit of Iraqi citizens from Fallujah city without being harmed to
paying a large sum of money, media reports said.
ED Noor: This story made me think of
the Holocaust movie Schindler’s List, (which I have never had the
dubious pleasure of viewing). Or maybe it was Sophie’s Choice, another I
have not seen. However, I am told there is a scene in one of them where
the mother must decide which child to send away to the bad guys.
Imagine what these people of Fallujah, who will never ever recuperate
from the brutal attack by America several years ago, are dealing with!
What does a family do when it does not have the means to save every
member? How does one make such decisions?
“Each citizen of Fallujah has to pay
$2,500 in extorted money to ISIL in order to be allowed to safely exit
the city,” the Arabic-language media outlets quoted Iraqi provincial
sources as saying.
The sources noted that the ISIL had set
the extorted money at $5,000 in the beginning, but the terrorist group
reduced it by half to $2,500 as the Iraqi joint forces made considerable
advances towards Fallujah city.
The ISIL uses those residents that stay in Fallujah as human shields, preventing them from leaving the city freely.
Earlier on Wednesday, activists released
images and documents on social media networks showing a directive
issued by the ISIL instructing the militants to disguise as Iraqi
popular troops and kill people in Fallujah, while chanting pro-Shiite
slogans to defame the Hashd Al-Shaabi forces.
The ISIL militants were also ordered to
send their families to safe places outside Fallujah city, the
Arabic-language media outlets reported on Wednesday.
The ISIL terrorists have been instructed
to disguise as Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) and massacre
the Iraqi civilians whom they have released from Fallujah prisons while
chanting Hashd al-Shaabi slogans.
The terrorist group has also ordered its
members in the directive to take videos and photographs from these
fabricated and fake scenes and release them on the social media.
The Takfiri terrorist group has also
threatened that any of its members that would cooperate with Hashd
al-Shaabi will be executed.
Earlier on Wednesday, provincial
officials announced that a large number of Iraqi families who had been
used as human shield by the ISIL in the surrounding areas of the
Fallujah city managed to escape from the custody of the Takfiri
terrorists.
“Over 100 Iraqi families escaped from
al-Nassaf and al-Hassi regions to the West and South of Fallujah city,”
the Arabic-language media outlets quoted Head of Anbar Provincial
Council’s Security Committee Raje al-Issawi as saying.
He reiterated that the Iraqi citizens
were transferred by the Iraqi security forces to Fallujah refugee camps
in Ameriya and Khalediya regions.
On Tuesday, Iraqi military forces
managed to push ISIL militants back from agricultural areas outside
Fallujah as they continue their military operation to retake Iraq’s
Western city.
Lt. Ahmed Mahdi Salih, a commander in
Iraqi federal police participating in the battle, said that fierce
battles were taking place in the Eastern vicinity of Fallujah which the
militants are using as a supply line, Rudaw news website reported.
The operation is being conducted under
the command of Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab Al Sa’adi who pointed out that tough
terrains of the battlefields, the risk of civilian casualties and the
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) ISIL has planted in and around the
city are obstacles to a swift victory, which is why they will begin the
offensive by surrounding and bombarding ISIL positions.
While Iraqi military and paramilitary
forces have had the city encircled for over a year this is their first
serious attempt to recapture the city and force the militants to retreat
from the area.
ISIL captured Fallujah back in January 2014 making it the first and longest city it has been controlling in Iraq.
“On Tuesday morning, the Iraqi security
and volunteer forces managed to fully liberate al-Karama town located 13
kilometers to the East of Fallujah,” Commander of Fallujah operations
said.
Al-Karama is an important and strategic city near Fallujah and is considered as an entrance gate to the city of Fallujah.
Reports on the battlefields also have
confirmed that the Iraqi forces advanced in al-Maqala and al-Hamra towns
and heavy clashes broke out between the government forces and the ISIL
terrorists.
Late in April, the Iraqi army, backed by
popular forces, gained the control of a district in the city of
al-Karama in Western Anbar province. The army units regained control of
al-Roza district in Central al-Karama, deemed as an important stronghold
of the terrorists in the city of al-Karama.
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