Iraq Court Sentences 4 ISIS Members to Death for Manufacturing Drones

Iraqi forces are seen by their military vehicles during an operation against ISIS remnants. (Reuters file photo)
Iraqi forces are seen by their military vehicles during an operation against ISIS remnants. (Reuters file photo)
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Iraq Court Sentences 4 ISIS Members to Death for Manufacturing Drones

Iraqi forces are seen by their military vehicles during an operation against ISIS remnants. (Reuters file photo)
Iraqi forces are seen by their military vehicles during an operation against ISIS remnants. (Reuters file photo)

Iraq's Central Criminal Court in Iraq issued four death sentences against ISIS terrorists on Monday for manufacturing drones and explosives to attack security forces.

Iraq is seeking to limit the use of weapons on its territory with the spread of many armed factions, some of which targeted US bases after the eruption of the war in Gaza on October 7.

The media center of the Supreme Judicial Council said that terrorists provided logistical support to ISIS to target the security forces.

Cooperation with International Criminal Court

Ahead of the convictions, Prime Minister Mohammad Shiaa al-Sudani met in Baghdad with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Ahmad Khan.

According to a statement from Sudani's office, the Prime Minister called on the ICC to assist Iraq in identifying supporters of terrorism.

The officials discussed cooperation mechanisms between the Iraqi government and the ICC to hold ISIS terrorists accountable in a way that helps bring justice to the thousands of victims who were killed by terrorism.

Sudani stressed the need to support Iraq in prosecuting and holding the terrorists accountable for the loss of Iraqi lives and brutal massacres of civilians.

"Iraq fought terrorism on behalf of the world, was able to defeat it, and made many sacrifices for that."

For his part, Khan stressed the ICC's keenness to prosecute and bring to justice members of terrorist organizations in Iraq.

He asserted that the Iraqis defeated the terrorist ISIS through their unity, cohesion, and determination to cleanse their land.

Harir Airport

Separately, the Kurdish Rudaw network reported on Sunday that a large explosion was heard at Harir Airport in Erbil, northern Iraq.

It did not immediately provide further details.

Iraqi armed factions have repeatedly targeted the base near Erbil Airport and another in western Iraq in response to the war in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Karkh Criminal Court in Baghdad sentenced two persons to life in prison for illegal drug trafficking.

Under the complex litigation procedures in Iraq, these rulings are not final and can be appealed. Some cases can be put to a retrial because some convicts provide their statements under coercion or torture.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.