Despair grows in Iraq over hundreds of missing men

June 15, 2016

Print : World

AMRIYAT AL FALLUJAH, Iraq: When Iraqi officials and top brass visited this displacement camp south of Jihadist-held Fallujah, distressed residents swarmed around them asking the same question: "Where are our sons?"
Mothers pleaded with their palms upturned while elders scribbled on paper the names of some of the hundreds of male relatives whose fates are unknown.
"My husband, three sons and three nephews are missing," said Taliaa Diab, who fled the town of Saqlawiya near Fallujah with her family earlier this month. She has heard nothing from them in a week.
"We are hearing that they are killing many of them. We want to know what happened," she said.
Her family is one of hundreds who have been filling tents at the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah over the past three weeks.
Iraqi forces launched a vast offensive more than three weeks ago to retake Fallujah, which lies only 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad and is one of the main bastions of the Islamic State (IS) group.
The initial phase of the operation saw forces, including militias from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary umbrella group, retake areas around Fallujah and tighten the seal around the city.
As the number of displaced civilians who fled IS rule continues to rise, so does the volume of allegations against members of the security forces, mostly militias.
"The sectarian mobilisation took my husband," said Marwa Mohammed, using a derogatory nickname for the paramilitary Hashed forces that made the women around giggle.
"The militia that took all the men was Ketaeb Hizbullah. That was the one we saw, from their flags and their badges, but there were others too," she said.