Unitad members claim to have collected “testimony, digital and documentary evidence” relating specifically to the use of chemical weapons in Iraq under the Caliphate.
Serious allegations. UN experts have uncovered evidence of chemical weapons use by the jihadist group Islamic State during the era of its self-proclaimed “caliphate,” according to a report due to be debated by the Security Council on Monday.
Members of Unitad, the investigative team responsible for holding ISIS accountable for its crimes, claim to have collected “testimony, digital and documentary evidence” relating specifically to the use of chemical weapons in Iraq under the Caliphate ( 2014-2019) refer ).
Experts conclude that IS “manufactured and produced chemical rockets and mortars, chemical rocket launcher ammunition, chemical missile warheads and improvised explosive devices”.
different substances
The investigation was particularly interested “in the funding, supply and logistics of (ISIS) and its links with the command elements to gain a better understanding of the alleged manufacture, production and deployment locations of weapons in Iraq, further details of the agents produced (…) and the vectors used”.
The experts focused in particular on an attack on Taza Khormatu on March 8, 2016. They claim to have collected “a significant amount of evidence” including “payslips and elements of correspondence” from the jihadist group.
The team “examined evidence of compensation from families for the ‘martyrdom’ of their members who were killed while handling chemical weapons (…) and records of training (…) in high positions on the use of chemical substances as weapons, in special devices for Distributing Chemicals”.
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Among the products used were “aluminum phosphide, chlorine, Clostridium botulinum bacteria, cyanide, nicotine, ricin and thallium sulfate”.
The report highlights “the medical complications that residents of Taza Khormatu are currently suffering from (particularly chronic diseases, cancer and reproductive disorders)”.
“Money Services”
He also discusses other serious crimes, including mass sexual violence, the persecution of the Christian community in Iraq and other communities, and the destruction of cultural and religious heritage.
Additionally, referring to the funding of ISIS, Unitad “substantially expanded their evidence base against those who have provided logistical support to (ISIS) on the commercial networks of money services and reaped profits from its campaigns of violence.”
According to her, “functional links have been established between the networks in Mosul and Baghdad and the larger regional networks in the Middle East and the Gulf”.
oil production?
Elements “show a close connection” between ISIS leaders “and certain money services companies that have been complicit in schemes to extort funds from local people by ensuring the management and transfer of looted assets.” The group has also begun investigating the “takeover and exploitation” of Iraqi oil.
In June 2014, the jihadists set up a “caliphate” in a vast region between Iraq and Syria. An international coalition led by the United States had been fighting the organization until the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured ISIS’s last stronghold of Baghuz (eastern Syria) in March 2019, signing the end of the regime’s “caliphate “.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
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