Iraq Commemorates 9th Anniversary of Speicher Massacre

A photo distributed by the media of the "Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces" from the ninth anniversary ceremony for the victims of the Camp Speicher massacre
A photo distributed by the media of the "Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces" from the ninth anniversary ceremony for the victims of the Camp Speicher massacre
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Iraq Commemorates 9th Anniversary of Speicher Massacre

A photo distributed by the media of the "Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces" from the ninth anniversary ceremony for the victims of the Camp Speicher massacre
A photo distributed by the media of the "Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces" from the ninth anniversary ceremony for the victims of the Camp Speicher massacre

Iraq on Saturday commemorated the ninth anniversary of the Speicher massacre, which was committed by ISIS in June 2014.

The terrorist group captured and murdered primarily students at the College of Aviation and security personnel within the well-known military base, "Speicher," in Salah ad Din Governorate in 2014.

By June 2014, ISIS took control of one third of the country, including vast areas in the north, east and the west of Iraq before the government was capable of defeating the terrorist group three years later.

Saturday’s commemoration was held at the crime scene in the presidential palaces complex in Tikrit.

Tens of families and relatives of the victims, in addition to Iraqi officials and representatives from the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by ISIS (UNITAD), attended the event.

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who served as prime minister while Iraq was battling ISIS from 2014 till 2017, said in a tweet that “Today is the anniversary of the biggest and most dangerous national wound, the anniversary of the fall of Mosul in the hands of (ISIS) terrorism and barbarism.”

He added: “The fall of Mosul was only the result of the enemies' plans, and of corruption, mismanagement, sectarianism, and hatred."

On Saturday, UNITAD said in a statement that the Speicher crime represents the largest documented mass killing.

The Chief of Office of Field Investigations, Defne Akca, said: “The United Nations investigation team is conducting its investigations regarding this crime, which is one of the largest documented mass killings, which claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 martyrs.”

During the memorial event on the tragedy, Akca added that efforts will continue to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“The international community, under international law, considers these crimes to be among the greatest crimes committed, and by collecting evidence, the perpetrators of this crime will be held accountable in accordance with international standards, even after decades.”

Akca pointed out that the team is working with the Iraqi authorities to find the culprits.

Despite the brutality of the "Speicher" crime, many of its chapters remain unresolved. The identity of all the elements involved in the massacre remain unknown.

Also, there are still hundreds of unidentified bodies in the forensic medicine department while no exact figures were given regarding the number of people killed in the massacre. Reports said ISIS killed between 1,700 to 2,000 Iraqi cadets.

Meanwhile, families of the victims have not received the compensation approved by Iraqi laws for this type of victim.

ISIS members were held responsible for the crime. Iraqi courts already sentenced several people to death over their involvement in the June 2014 massacre.

However, Hassan Salem, a deputy from Asaib Ahl al-Haq, held the family of the late President Saddam Hussein responsible for the massacre, as they resided near the area of ​​the presidential palace where the massacre was carried out.

Meanwhile, Moeen al-Kadhimi, the head of the Speicher Massacre Memorial Committee, said on Saturday that more than 900 families of the victims, distributed in the governorates of Najaf, Diwaniyah, Babel and Karbala, did not obtain their full rights, guaranteed by law.

At the memorial event held in the presidential palace complex, he added that “we are working diligently to search for the 500 missing persons through the Martyrs' Foundation/Mass Graves Department.”

Al-Khadhimi also said that the Committee is working to expedite DNA testing for 140 remains currently at the forensic department.

The Ministry of Health must hasten this process and end the suffering of the martyrs' families, he added.

 



Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.