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10,000 Da’esh fighters estimated to operate on Syria-Iraq border
Every effort must be made to support the Yazidi community in Iraq, the United Nations said on Wednesday, marking eight years since the extremist group ISIL launched a brutal assault on the religious minority.
The global fight against the shadowy, ever-morphing threat posed by the ISIL terrorist group - known officially as Da’esh - and its affiliates, remains a “long-term game” for which there are “no quick fixes,” the UN counter-terrorism chief told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Following an attack by United States Special Forces in northwestern Syria that culminated in the death of the leader of the ISIL terrorist network, the deputy UN Spokesperson on Thursday expressed concern over reported civilian casualties, but welcomed any move contributing to the group’s defeat.
When the extremist militant group ISIL, or Da’esh, collapsed in Iraq and Syria, thousands of foreign nationals were hastily detained in prisons and camps. At least 42,000 foreign women and children, most under the age of 12, currently remain in squalid and overcrowded conditions inside camps in northeast Syria.
The special UN Investigative Team probing ISIL atrocities in Iraq is making “real progress,” its chief said on Monday, as it begins to pinpoint the perpetrators of some of the worst crimes committed by the terrorist group during its years-long occupation of large swathes of the country.
The leader of the special UN Investigation Team probing crimes committed by ISIL terrorists in Iraq, said on Tuesday that the courage being demonstrated by survivors coming forward “serves to underline the urgency” they need to carry on with their work.
North-east Syria is seeing increasing numbers of civilian casualties and large-scale displacement amid intensifying efforts to defeat extremists from ISIL, otherwise known as Da’esh, in Deir-ez-Zor governorate, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.
In a “landmark” resolution, the Security Council established a new team on Thursday to investigate alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the terrorist group ISIL in Iraq.
ISIL, also known as Daesh, overran large areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014, but in the past year it has seen most of its territory liberated by Iraqi and coalition forces across the region.
The new team will operate with the full support of the Iraqi government, which has been working with the United Kingdom on the resolution for some time.
Matt Wells reports.
ISIL or Daesh fighters in two key Syrian towns are nearing defeat and when that happens it could be the “moment of truth” for the future of the country, UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Wednesday.
Speaking in Geneva, the veteran negotiator said that Deir-ez-Zour was essentially liberated from the extremists.
Raqqa, Mr de Mistura added, was only days or at most, weeks away from freedom.