Iraqi Forces Retake Rutba; Battle for Fallujah Next

By Zachary Lucas

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq — After a two-day battle with the Islamic State, Iraqi forces reported that they had retaken the remote town of Rutba in the Andar Province. This comes on the heels of other military victories against IS in the northern and western regions of Iraq. This string of victories has been followed by some Iraq military officials stating that plans are being made to retake Fallujah next.

Iraqi Forces Have a String of Military Victories Against IS (Photo courtesy of the BBC)

Iraqi forces, backed by United States led coalition airstrikes, entered Rutba on Tuesday. These forces were helped by elite commandos and local tribal fighters to retake the city within two days. Coalition spokesperson, Colonel Steve Warren, stated that there were approximately 200 IS fighters in the town. Colonel Warren and Iraqi military officials added that little resistance was made by IS to defend the city.

Rutba was captured by IS in June 2014 and quickly became a home for IS training grounds and bases due to its remoteness. IS used Rutba as staging grounds for attacks in both Syria and Iraq. Colonel Warren stated that the retaking of Rutba will deny IS a “critical support zone” for future attacks against military forces and civilians.

Retaking Rutba is one of a few victories that the Iraqi military has seen in the last few months. In February, the Iraq military retook Ramadi from IS and last month they retook the town of Hit in Anbar province. Coalition forces estimate that IS has lost more than 30 percent of its territory in Iraq and Syria. Some officials have stated that the loss of territory and supplies has led IS to put up less military resistance and instead focus attacks on civilian populations like the recent bombings in Baghdad.

These recent victories and the strategic victory in Rutba, lead many into thinking that Fallujah is next. Both Iraqi military officials and local, allied militia leaders stated plans for retaking Fallujah are in the works. Fallujah was the first city to fall to IS control in 2014 and was later followed by numerous Iraqi military defeats, including losing the second largest city Mosul. Fallujah and Mosul, where IS has headquartered military operations, attacks on civilians, and sex trafficking of women, have been IS strongholds for almost two years.

For more information, please see:

The Washington Post — Iraqi forces retake Rutba from ISIS and eye Fallujah for next battle — 19 May 2016

BBC — IS conflict: Iraq forces retake remote western town of Rutba — 19 May 2016

Radio Free Europe — Iraqi Forces Retake Remote Western Town From Islamic State — 19 May 2016

Reuters — Iraq says it retakes western town of Rutba from Islamic State — 19 May 2016

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky: German TV Station ZDF Confirmed It Will Not Show Nekrasov’s Anti-Magnitsky Propaganda Film

Ger­man TV Sta­tion ZDF Con­firmed It Will Not Show Nekrasov’s Anti-Magnitsky Pro­pa­ganda Film

16 May 2016 – ZDF, a Ger­man public-service tele­vi­sion broad­caster, has con­firmed that they will not show Andrei Nerkrasov’s anti-Magnitsky pro­pa­ganda film. Pre­vi­ously, Sergei Magnitsky’s widow and mother expressed their cat­e­gor­i­cal objec­tion to dis­tri­b­u­tion in any form of the Nekrasov’s film about Sergei Mag­nit­sky because of its false and slan­der­ous content.

ZDF has now for­mally con­firmed its com­mit­ment to not broad­cast Nekrasov’s film. This fol­lows a sim­i­lar com­mit­ment by the French TV net­work ARTE.

“This film is full of lies and mis­in­for­ma­tion about the Mag­nit­sky case,” said William Brow­der, leader of the global Jus­tice cam­paign for Sergei Mag­nit­sky and author of the New York Times best-seller “Red Notice: How I Became Putin’s No 1 Enemy.”

“It is my duty to Sergei’s mem­ory and to his fam­ily to pre­serve the truth and pro­tect his legacy,” con­tin­ued Browder.

Nekrasov’s film con­tains false state­ments about Sergei Mag­nit­sky, which are refuted by inde­pen­dent inter­na­tional bod­ies, includ­ing the Par­lia­men­tary Assem­bly of the Coun­cil of Europe, com­pris­ing del­e­gates from 47 states, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment, the US Depart­ment, and the US Con­gress, among others.

Russ­ian human rights activists, includ­ing vet­eran dis­si­dent and head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lud­mila Alex­eeva and Valery Borschev, head of the Moscow human rights com­mis­sion, who inves­ti­gated Magnitsky’s death, spoke out against the attempts by Andrei Nekrasov to spread the lies in this case for the ben­e­fit of those who have been exposed by Magnitsky’s tes­ti­mony of involve­ment in the fraud and broader cor­rup­tion aris­ing out of Panama Papers, and are being affected by Mag­nit­sky sanc­tions (State­ment by Lud­mila Alex­eeva:http://www.novayagazeta.ru/politics/72940.html; State­ment by Valery Borschev:http://www.novayagazeta.ru/politics/72931.html).

Nekrasov’s anti-Magnitsky film was sched­uled for broad­cast on ARTE, a Franco-German cul­tural TV net­work, on 3 May 2016. ARTE has can­celled the sched­uled broad­cast of Nekrasov’s anti-Magnitsky film, and ZDF has now con­firmed that it will not show this film.

The deci­sion not to broad­cast Nekrasov’s film by ZDF and ARTE fol­low the ear­lier deci­sion not to air the Nekrasov’s film at the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment for sim­i­lar rea­sons. The screen­ing of Nekrasov’s film was orig­i­nally sched­uled there as a pri­vate ini­tia­tive of Heidi Hau­tala, Andrei Nekrasov’s girl­friend and a mem­ber of the Euro­pean par­lia­ment from Finland.

ZDF is based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an inde­pen­dent non-profit insti­tu­tion, which was founded by all fed­eral states of Germany.

For more infor­ma­tion, please contact:

Jus­tice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org 

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: R2P Monitor, Issue 27, 15 May 2016

15 May 2016
Web Version

R2P Monitor, Issue 27

Dear colleague,

I would like to draw your attention to the latest issue of our publication, R2P Monitor.

R2P Monitor is a bimonthly bulletin applying the Responsibility to Protect lens to populations at risk of mass atrocities around the world. Issue 27 looks at developments in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Burma/Myanmar, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Burundi, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Central African Republic and South Sudan. To read R2P Monitor please access the document via the following link: R2P Monitor, Issue 27.

I hope you will find this edition a useful tool as we work together to prevent and halt mass atrocity crimes.

Dr Simon Adams
Executive Director

European Union – EEAS (European External Action Service): Statement by the Spokesperson on Uganda and the International Criminal Court

Committed to preventing crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, and to avoiding impunity for the perpetrators of such crimes, the EU confirms its continuing support for the ICC and its work.

Full cooperation with the ICC is a prerequisite for the Court’s effective functioning.

In accordance with established approach of the EU and its Member States, the EU regrets that Uganda, a State Party of the Court, did not fulfil this week its legal obligation, in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 1593, to execute the arrest warrant against any ICC indictee present in the country.

Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Underbelly of the War: Trade in Human Organs

WEEKLY UPDATE
May 14, 2016
Dear Readers,Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments about Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. But first, here is an overview of some of this week’s news highlights:

In Syria this week, a weeklong riot by 800 mostly political detainees in Hama’s central prison was put to an end on Monday after a deal, brokered by the Red Crescent, arranged for the release of more than 80 prisoners that were being held without charge.

A local cease-fire in Aleppo – brokered by Russia and the U.S. on May 4 with the aim of reviving a wider cessation of hostilities agreement that has broken down across much of western Syria – extended through much of the week, but was allowed to expire on Thursday.

And even though the localized cease-fire was in place in the city itself for much of the week, violence continued on the divided city’s outskirts. In the southern countryside, battles on Monday between Jaish al-Fatah, a coalition of Islamist factions including the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, and pro-government Iranian militia killed at least 13 Iranian troops and wounded another 21. It was Iran’s bloodiest day since Tehran began deploying troops to Syria in 2012 to support President Bashar al-Assad.

On Tuesday, ISIS militants cut off a key road connecting the government-controlled city of Homs with the ancient city of Palmyra to its east, a little more than a month after pro-government forces recaptured the world heritage site. ISIS militants also shot down a Syrian army helicopter, attacked troops watching over the nearby Mahr and Jazal gas fields, and took over two government checkpoints and an abandoned military barracks in the area.

Government forces in Damascus on Thursday turned away an aid convoy headed for the besieged suburb of Daraya, leaving some 4,000 civilians without much-needed vaccines and medical supplies. Not one delivery of food aid has made it into the besieged suburb since government forces surrounded it in 2012.

And on Friday, human-rights watchdog Amnesty International accused rebels fighting under the Fatah Halab (Conquest of Aleppo) coalition in Aleppo of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilian homes, streets, markets and mosques in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Shiekh Maqsoud, killing at least 83 civilians, including 30 children, between February and April 2016.

The Fatah Halab coalition includes two Islamist rebel factions – Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham – that Russia unsuccessfully tried to blacklist earlier in the week.

Hezbollah confirmed on Friday the death of its top military commander, Mustafa Badreddine, in a “major explosion” at the Damascus airport. While the cause of the explosion has not yet been confirmed, both Lebanese and Israeli media outlets quickly suggested the blast could have been caused by an Israeli airstrike. Badreddine is the third high-profile leader in the Lebanese Shiite militia to be assassinated in Syria in six months.

Stories of the Week:

Underbelly of the War: Trade in Human Organs

In Syria and its neighboring countries, an underground network of organ traders has sprung up, preying on the thousands affected by the five-year-long war and offering them desperately needed cash for nonessential organs.
Syrian children whose families fled their homes in a camp for internally displaced people in the village of Atmeh in December 2012. AP/Muhammed Muheisen

One Fighter’s Recruitment – and Escape – from ISIS

As ISIS swept over large swathes of the eastern province, former FSA fighter Abu Khadija pledged his allegiance, believing the extremists were his best bet to topple the Assad government. Now, after escaping, he wishes he could take it all back.
ISIS fighters parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq, on June 23, 2014. AP/File

In Rebel Areas, Journalists Complain of New Curbs

Reporting from Syria’s opposition-held areas is dangerous work, according to local journalists on the ground, who say they’ve been censored and intimidated by rebel factions across the country.
Men hold revolutionary Syrian flags during an anti-government protest in a town in northern Syria on Friday, March 2, 2012. AP/Rodrigo Abd

More Recent Stories to Look Out for at Syria Deeply:

Find our new reporting and analysis every weekday at www.newsdeeply.com/syria.
You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.

Top image: A Syrian woman cooks at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on May 10, 2016. AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris