Iran Tests Missiles in Message to Israel

By Brittani Howell

Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – Last Wednesday Iran conducted its second day of missile tests, firing two rockets. The rockets hit their targets over 1,400 kilometers (850 miles) away, making them capable of reach Israel, which is 1,000 kilometers away from the nearest point in Iran.

Ballistic missile was launched in the northern part of Iran on March 9th. (Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times)

Iran was barred from conducting any work on ballistic missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear warheads under United Nations Security Resolution 1929. This was revoked by the nuclear deal with the United States and was replaced with United Nations Security Resolution 2231 which urges that Iran abstain from such activity.

The second round of tests occurred on the same day that United States Vice President Biden was in Jerusalem meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is alleged that the missile tests were intended to provoke an Israeli reaction.

Mr. Biden told reporters after his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu that, “We’re united in the belief that a nuclear armed Iran is an absolutely unacceptable threat to Israel, to the United States.” He continued, “And I want to reiterate which I know people still doubt here: If in fact they break the deal, we will act. And all their conventional activity outside of the deal is still beyond the deal, and we will and are attempting to act wherever we can find it.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hossein Jabier Ansari, told the state-controlled news agency, IRNA, that the missiles were for the legitimate defense of Iran and were not designed for carrying warheads. Analyst Nader Karimi Juni stated, “The ruling establishment is sending a message to the outside world that even though Iran has rejected nuclear weaponry, we are developing our missiles and making them increasingly sophisticated.”

Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Major General Ali Jafari, stated, “Our enemies have realized that broader sanctions and scrutiny pressures have had little impact on our capabilities.” He continued, “That’s why they now seek to confine us in the missile field through economic sanctions.” Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted stating, “The reason why we designed our missiles with a range of 2,000 km is to be able to hit our enemy the Zionist regime from a safe distance.”

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon commented that Iran was still hostile despite its nuclear deal with the United States in January. He stated, “To my regret there are some in the West who are misled by the honeyed words of part of he Iranian leadership while the other part continues to procure equipment and weaponry, to arm terrorist groups.”

Iran supplies weapons and technology to Hezbollah, its Lebanese proxy, which already has thousands of rockets capable of targeting Israel.

For more information, please see:

USA Today – Iran: Missile Tests Don’t Violate Nuclear Agreement, U.N. Resolution – 10 March 2016

CNN – Iran Launches Ballistic Missiles a Day After Missile Test – 9 March 2016

Los Angeles Times – Iran’s Latest Missile Test Launches Do Not Violate Nuclear Deal, U.S. Says – 9 March 2016

Reuters – Clinton Calls for Sanction on Iran After More Missile Tests – 9 March 2016

The New York Times – Iran Tests More Missiles in Message to Israel and Biden – 9 March 2016

U.S. Secretary of State Declares ISIS Responsible for Genocide

By Brittani Howell

Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – On Thursday United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, declared that the Islamic State has committed genocide against Yazidis, Shi’ite Muslims, and Christians in Syria and Iraq. The statement came on the deadline set last year by Congress for the Obama administration to determine whether the Islamic State’s targeting of minority religious and ethnic groups amounted to genocide.

United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, declares Islamic State actions against Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’ite Muslims constitutes genocide. (Photo courtesy of the Huffington Post)

Mr. Kerry stated, “My purpose here today is to assert in my judgment, (ISIS) is responsible for genocides against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’ite Muslims.” He also stated that, “Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions – in what it says, what it believes, and what it does.”

On Monday one chamber of the United States House of Representatives approved a unanimous resolution condemning the Islamic State for trying to eradicating minority communities. The United States is not legally obligated to take a particular action because of the finding of genocide.

Mr. Kerry stated that the Islamic State, “castigates Yazidis as, quote, ‘pagans’ and ‘devil-worshippers,’ and we know that Daesh has threatened Christians by saying it will, quote, ‘conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women.’” He continued, “ Shia Muslims, meanwhile, are referred to by Daesh, as, quote, ‘disbelievers and apostates,’ and subjected to frequent and vicious attacks.”

In August 2014, the Islamic State rounded up thousands of Yazidis living in the Nineveh plains of north-western Iraq. The men and boys over age 14 were shot, boys under the age of 14 were forced to convert to Islam and subjected to military training. Women and girls were sold or handed to Islamic State militants as gifts.

In July 2014 the Islamic State killed as many as 1,700 army recruits, most of whom were Shia Muslims, when it captured the Camp Speicher military base outside of Tikrit, a northern Iraqi city.

Christians living in the territory have been forced to chose between converting to Islam, payment of a protection tax, jizyah, or death. In February 2015 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian migrant workers in Libya were beheaded.

Mr. Kerry also stated that “Naming these crimes is important, but what is essential is to stop them.” An Israeli Yazidi activist, Mirza Dinnayi, told CNN in an e-mail, “I am very happy to hear that (the U.S.) will recognize the genocide of Yezidi and Christian minorities.” He continued, “This is an important step to stop the suffering of the prosecuted people under the control of the extremist Islamic groups, specifically ISIS. And this is also important for my community to trust the international community again, because we were left in the hands of Islamic State.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Islamic State Committed Genocide, Says US – 17 March 2016

CNN – John Kerry: ISIS Responsible for Genocide – 17 March 2016

Huffington Post – John Kerry Calls Islamic State’s Atrocities Genocide – 17 March 2016

The New York Times – Citing Atrocities, John Kerry Calls ISIS Actions Genocide – 17 March 2016

U.S. Congressman Chris Smith: U.S. House Passes Smith Bill Urging New Syrian War Crimes Tribunal

Washington, Mar 14 | Jeff Sagnip ((202) 225-3765)

The House of Representatives voted today urging the U.N. Security Council to immediately establish a Syrian war crimes tribunal.

   H Con Res 121—sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04)—calls upon the Administration to pursue this policy goal including using America’s voice and vote at the UN.

   During debate in the House Smith said, “Past ad hoc/regional war crimes tribunals—including courts for Sierra Leone, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia—have made a significant difference holding some of the worst mass murderers to account with successful prosecutions followed by long jail sentences.”

   The resolution passed 392-3.

   “An ad hoc or regional court has significant advantages over the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a venue for justice,” Smith said. “The ICC has operated since 2002 but boasts only two convictions. By way of contrast, the Yugoslavia court convicted 80 people; Rwanda, 61; and Sierra Leone, 9.  Moreover, a singularly focused Syrian tribunal that provides Syrians with a degree of ownership could significantly enhance its effectiveness.”

   “I chaired a congressional hearing in 2013 on establishing a Syrian War Crimes tribunal, which included David Crane, the former chief prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone and founder and chairman of the Syria Accountability Project,” Smith said. “As Mr. Crane testified, the Syria Accountability Project has collected data ‘and built a framework by which President Assad and his henchmen along with members of the opposition can be prosecuted openly and fairly.’  He and his team have developed a ‘crime base matrix which catalogs most of the incidents chronologically and highlights the violations of the Rome Statute, the Geneva Conventions as well as domestic Syrian criminal law.’”

   Smith said that Crane’s leadership held even heads of state to account.

   “Who can forget the picture of the infamous former President of Liberia—Charles Taylor—with his head bowed incredulous that the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2012 meted out a 50-year jail term for his crimes against humanity and war crimes,” Smith said.

    Tomorrow, March 15, marks the fifth anniversary of the Syrian War, which has taken the lives of many innocents.

     Smith said, “Rigorous investigations by a new Syria court followed by prosecutions, convictions and serious jail time for perpetrators of crimes on all sides will not only hold those responsible for war crimes accountable, but will send a clear message that such barbaric behavior has dire personal consequences. The victims—and their loved ones—deserve no less.”

   “Can a U.N. Security Council resolution establishing a Syrian war crimes tribunal prevail?” Smith asked during the debate, “Yes. With a serious and sustained diplomatic push by the United States and other interested parties, past success in creating war crimes tribunals can indeed be prologue. Notwithstanding Russia’s solidarity with Serbia during the Balkan war, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was unanimously approved. Ditto for the special court in Sierra Leone in 2002. The Rwanda tribunal was created in 1994, with China choosing to abstain rather than veto.” 

   Smith concluded, “Accountability that is aggressive, predictable, transparent and applicable to perpetrators of genocide and crimes against humanity on all sides of the divide must be pursued now.”

   The House also adopted a resolution today by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (NE-01) calling on the Obama Administration to designate the horrific crimes against Christians and other minority beliefs in Syria and Iraq as “genocide.” 

   During debate on that resolution Smith stated, “We cannot let the cries of the victims go unheeded, as we once did when we were confronted with evidence of genocide in Rwanda.”

   On Dec. 9, 2015, Smith chaired a hearing entitled “Fulfilling the Humanitarian Imperative: Assisting Victims of ISIS Violence,” where witnesses cited widespread violence targeting religious minorities such as Christians and Yezidis (a non-Islamic religious minority) in territory controlled by ISIS in Syria and Iraq. 

   “In very powerful testimony Mr. Ismail, himself a Yezidi leader who stated that his people were ‘on the verge of annihilation,’ called upon the Administration not to neglect others who are also under the sword,” Smith said. “He reminded us that the Yezidis were not alone in facing this barbaric onslaught, but that the ‘Yezidis and Chaldo-Assyrian Christians face this genocide together.’”  

   Smith said the Syria resolution has broad bi-partisan support, and received input from the State Department as well as a panel of experts at a 2013 hearing he chaired entitled “Establishing a Syrian War Crimes Tribunal.” Click here for information from the hearing, or click here to view a transcript of the hearing. Smith’s resolution was approved at a March 2 hearing by the full Foreign Affairs Committee.