In Mosul Battle, ISIS Used Hospital Base
Islamic State (also known as ISIS) fighters who had occupied a Mosul hospital for two years put staff and patients at risk of attack during the December 2016 battle by the Iraq Security Forces to retake Mosul, Human Rights Watch said today. After the battle around the al-Salam hospital in Wahda neighborhood, ISIS dragged seven […]Islamic State (also known as ISIS) fighters who had occupied a Mosul hospital for two years put staff and patients at risk of attack during the December 2016 battle by the Iraq Security Forces to retake Mosul, Human Rights Watch said today.
After the battle around the al-Salam hospital in Wahda neighborhood, ISIS dragged seven Iraqi soldiers’ corpses through the streets. One resident told Human Rights Watch that several days later he saw the bodies of three soldiers hanging from a bridge. The area is no longer under ISIS control.
“As the battle for Mosul unfolds, we are finding that ISIS is regularly occupying medical facilities and placing civilians and staff there at risk of incoming attacks,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Shamefully, ISIS fighters have also taken to advertising their abuses on the streets, as they did with the soldiers’ bodies.”
