​​Last week pictures of Qassem Suleimani started to circulate on social media, which is always a pretty sure sign that an Iranian military campaign is about to kick off somewhere in the Middle East. And indeed not long after, Iranian-backed Shiite militias, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units, and the Iranian Basij militia targeted Fallujah, the Sunni-majority Iraqi town under Islamic State control. If Suleimani, the IRGC commander, is able to vanquish ISIS forces, as he did in the Tikrit campaign, it will be largely thanks to U.S. air support. While no one was looking, the Obama administration bundled American and Iranian interests together.

The White House says it is fighting ISIS, but its Iranian and Iranian-backed partners say the war is about killing Sunnis. "There are no patriots, no real religious people in Fallujah," said the leader of one Iranian-backed Shiite militia. "It's our chance to clear Iraq by eradicating the cancer of Fallujah." That doesn't sound like the kind of ally the United States should be embracing. That sounds like the United States taking sides in a sectarian war, against the Sunni Arab regional majority.

There is no way to defeat ISIS unless the administration can get Sunni Arab leaders, especially tribal sheikhs, to join the fight. Only they have the local forces and knowledge to root out ISIS. But obviously no tribal leaders will enjoin their brothers to open up a Sunni civil war so that the Shiites and Iranians may profit from them spilling each other's blood.

​To destroy ISIS, the United States will have to move against the Shiite groups that are terrorizing Sunnis. That's precisely how the surge worked. But that hasn't happened with this White House for the same reason that the administration never moved to topple Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad—Obama doesn't want to get their Iranian patrons mad.

BAGHDAD — The stalled battle to retake the Iraqi city of Fallujah from ISIS has given way to another grim development: accusations of human rights abuses against fleeing refugees by pro-Iraqi government forces.

The largely Shia militia group officially known as Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), headed by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a U.S.-designated terrorist has, according to the United Nations, committed atrocities against Sunnis in two newly liberated areas of Saqlawiyah and Al-Karmah, are just kilometers from Fallujah city.

Two sources in Saqlawiyah, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of their lives, have told The Daily Beast that hundreds of civilian residents of Saqlawiyah and Karma have been heavily tortured by the PMF. Five dead bodies have been uncovered, but there are an additional 200 to 300 civilians that have been taken by the PMF; their fates are unknown.

​Sheikh Raad Salman, of the Anbar-based Sunni Dulaim tribe, one of Iraq’s largest, told The Daily Beast that the “300 civilians have been buried alive” by the PMF and “700 more people have been severely tortured.”

Anbar, Iraq – The child soldier posed for the camera, holding a machine-gun and wearing black clothes and army boots. He refused to give his name or his age, but it was obvious from his appearance - his facial hair barely grown - that he was only a teenager. The boy fights along with Hashd Al Ameriat - a shia militia.

The child soldier was fighting against Daesh (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in Amiriyat al-Fallujah, a city 40 kilometres west of Baghdad, where fierce battles have been taking place between Daesh, the Iraqi Army, and the "Popular Mobilisation Forces" - militias allied with the Iraqi government.
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On May 14, ISIL suicide bombers attacked the centre of Amiriyat al-Fallujah, killing ten soldiers and militiamen. ISIL is well-known for its use of child soldiers, and its"Cubs of the Caliphate" brigade has been filmed undergoing military training exercises and even taking part in executions.

​Iraq has a long history of training underage fighters. Under Saddam Hussein's rule, boys of 12 to 17 known as "Saddam's lion cubs" would attend month-long training during summer breaks.

​Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Qods Force, serves as an official advisor to the Iraqi government, the foreign minister confirmed yesterday. Soleimani and Qods Force have provided advice and support for the Popular Mobilization Forces and its component militias.

While hosting reporters in the Iraqi Embassy in Amman, Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jafari defended Soleimani’s role in bolstering sectarian militias that have often acted outside of the law in Iraq as they battle the Islamic State.

“Qassem Soleimani provides military advice on Iraqi soil, and this is with the complete awareness of our government.” Jafari said. He also noted that “terrorists from 100 countries are in the ranks of DAISH,” the pejorative term for the Islamic State.

“Baghdad is fighting DAISH on behalf of all the countries in the world,” Jafari continued, implying that Soleimani’s role in Iraq should be welcomed by all.

UN Human Rights Chief cites 'credible' reports of abuse, including executions of those escaping ISIL-held city.

The UN human rights chief has said there are "extremely distressing, credible reports" that Iraqis fleeing the fighting in Fallujah are facing extreme abuse and even death at the hands of Shia armed groups allied with the government troops.

Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, citing witness testimonies, said on Tuesday that allegations of abuse included reports of multiple executions of men and boys, who were trying to escape the city held by fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

"Eyewitnesses have described how armed groups operating in support of the Iraqi security forces are detaining the males for 'security screening'," Zeid said.

BAGHDAD -- Islamic State militants have gunned down people trying to flee the Iraqi city of Fallujah even as pro-government forces have apparently committed beatings and torture during battles to retake the area, according to Human Rights Watch and Iraqi officials.

The accounts — which could not be independently verified — highlight the apparent desperation of the militants to hang onto the city, their closest main foothold to Baghdad.

But the accusations also point to Iraq’s deep sectarian and tribal rifts, which could complicate further fights to dislodge the Islamic State, including from its key base in northern Iraq.
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Islamic State militants have used the estimated 50,000 civilians trapped in the government-besieged city as human shields, and they have killed those who have attempted to escape, the rights group and officials told The Washington Post in advance of a report on the alleged abuses.

Sunni politicians in Iraq have accused pro-Government Shiite militias of torturing local Sunni men as they close in on Islamic State (IS) fighters in Fallujah.

The allegations have been denied, but the row highlights the deep sectarian divide that threatens to undermine the fight against IS, even as Government troops make important headway against the extremists.

The latest claims emerged after an unverified mobile phone video was broadcast by a Sunni-run TV station, known for attacking the Shiite-dominated Government in Baghdad.

The video shows an interrogation quickly turning into an outright beating as a prisoner is flogged and repeatedly stomped on the head. It is said to have been shot around Fallujah.

Hundreds of civilians are suspected to have been tortured after being captured by Shia militiamen advancing towards the Isil-held city of Fallujah in central Iraq, with reports of “broken” corpses being discovered by local authorities.

Local officials confirmed the militia had captured around 600 peopleduring fighting in the nearby town of Saqlawiya, along with dozens more who had been separated from their families as they fled the area.
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A member of Anbar’s provincial council, Sheikh Raja al-Issawi, said the men had been taken to the al-Mazraa army base on Sunday night, where they appeared to have been severely tortured by Shia militias involved in the battle to retake Fallujah.

Speaking from a nearby hospital, one nurse said his facility had received dozens of severely wounded men, as well as four “broken” corpses.

As the battle for Fallujah in Iraq continues the Iranians are attempting to take credit for the operation. Pictures have been posted in the press and on social media of Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ General Qasim Suleimani in the area and consulting with elements of the Hashd.

This is part of Tehran’s continuing propaganda operation to portray itself as the savior of Iraq and the main opponent of the Islamic State.

To discuss this campaign is Dr Raz Zimmt a research fellow at the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University and the Forum for Regional Thinking and editor of “Spotlight on Iran.”

​He recently wrote about this topic in “Iranian Participation in the Liberation of Fallujah” for the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. He can be followed on Twitter at @RZimmt

​BAGHDAD — Iraqi soldiers are battling to drive the Islamic State out of Fallujah. But just beyond the edges of the flashpoint city are Shiite militias that many Iraqis fear could undermine the campaign against the radical group.

These government-aligned militiamen have helped push the Islamic State out of key areas of the country but also have become a complication for the U.S.-backed military coalition assembled to destroy the hard-line Sunni group. They filled an important void left by Iraq’s weakened armed forces, but their religiously motivated agenda has aggravated Iraq’s combustible sectarian divisions.

That is particularly problematic in a place like Fallujah, in Iraq’s Sunni heartland, where residents have a history of revolt. A decade ago, al-Qaeda militants staged a punishing insurgency against then-occupying U.S. troops. Anger at the government in Baghdad helped the Islamic State win control of the area in January 2014.

Iraq’s government has ordered the militias to stay away from the fighting inside the city. And the U.S. military says it refuses to give them air support, fearing that their involvement could help the Islamic State rally besieged residents to its cause.