Iraqi ‘Chemical’ Scientist Admits to Assisting ISIS

Destroyed buildings from clashes are seen in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 10, 2017. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
Destroyed buildings from clashes are seen in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 10, 2017. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
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Iraqi ‘Chemical’ Scientist Admits to Assisting ISIS

Destroyed buildings from clashes are seen in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 10, 2017. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
Destroyed buildings from clashes are seen in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 10, 2017. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

Iraqi scientist Suleiman al-Afari has admitted to manufacturing sulfur mustard under the rule of ISIS in the city of Mosul.

The militants seized Mosul in 2014. Afari, then a 49-year-old geologist with Iraq’s Ministry of Industry and Minerals, hoped his new bosses would simply let him keep his job, said The Washington Post.

But ISIS offered him to make chemical weapons.

“Afari knew little about the subject, but he accepted the assignment. And so began his 15-month stint supervising the manufacture of lethal toxins for the world’s deadliest terrorist group,” said the report.

“Do I regret it? I don’t know if I’d use that word,” said Afari, who was captured by US and Kurdish fighters in 2016 and is now a prisoner in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region.

“They had become the government and we now worked for them,” he said. “We wanted to work so we could get paid,” he told the newspaper.

Afari was in charge of acquisitions in the ministry’s metallurgical division, a unit that held special appeal for the terrorists.

In the interview with The Washington Post, he described how ISIS officials visited his office a few weeks into the occupation and presented him with a new assignment and a procurement list of specialized metal equipment that he was to find and assemble. Included on the list were stainless-steel tanks, pipes, valves and tubes, all designed to withstand corrosive chemicals and high temperatures.

Afari is among the few known participants in the terrorist organization’s chemical weapons program to be captured alive, said the newspaper.



UN Calls for 'Immediate Deescalation' in Libyan Capital

Man waving the Libyan flag - File Photo/AFP
Man waving the Libyan flag - File Photo/AFP
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UN Calls for 'Immediate Deescalation' in Libyan Capital

Man waving the Libyan flag - File Photo/AFP
Man waving the Libyan flag - File Photo/AFP

The UN mission in Libya called for "immediate deescalation", citing reports of armed forces being mobilized in the capital and its surroundings that have raised fears of renewed violence.

In mid-May, there were clashes in Tripoli between forces loyal to the government and powerful armed groups wanting to dismantle it.

In a statement published late on Wednesday on X, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said there were "increased reports of continued military build-up in and around Tripoli", AFP reported.

It said it "strongly urges all parties to refrain from using force, particularly in densely populated areas, and to avoid any actions or political rhetoric that could trigger escalation or lead to renewed clashes".

It called for all parties to "engage in good faith" in deescalation and for the "swift implementation of security arrangements" set out during efforts to end the May violence.

Those clashes left six people dead, the United Nations said.

"Forces recently deployed in Tripoli must withdraw without delay," UNSMIL said.

Libya has been gripped by conflict since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising.

The country remains split between Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah's UN-recognized government based in Tripoli and a rival administration based in the east.

In a TV interview on Monday, Dbeibah called for armed groups to vacate the areas under their control.

Among the sites held by armed factions are the Mitiga airport in the east of the capital, which is controlled by the powerful Radaa Force.

"Dialogue -- not violence -- remains the only viable path toward achieving lasting peace, stability in Tripoli and across Libya", the UNSMIL statement said.