Daughter of dead ISIS commander surrenders to Kurds, says she escaped coalition bombs
By Rangin Sharo
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The daughter of a dead ISIS military commander has surrendered to Peshmerga forces, saying she fled her home in the Iraqi town of Hawija – which has been under the Islamic State’s control – to escape coalition aerial bombings.
Marwa, daughter of Khalil Ali Waisi who was the ISIS military commander in the town of Hawija in Kirkuk province before being executed by the terrorist group itself, said that bombardments by the US-led coalition and shortages of electricity and fuel had forced her to flee.
"Before there were kerosene and electricity, but now there are no such things -- all gone," she told Rudaw.
"We were only afraid of the bombings," she said, adding that is why she had fled. “From my point of view, if you don’t do things against ISIS they will not harm you," she claimed.
“What destroyed our lives were coalition warplanes, not ISIS," she said.
Waisi was among a record number of thousands of people from Hawija who surrendered to the Kurdish Peshmerga earlier this week on the western Kirkuk front.
According to Iraqi media reports, Khalid Waisi was executed by ISIS for stealing money from smuggled oil which has been the militants’ economic lifeline.
But his daughter dismissed those claims, saying her father was killed by ISIS because he had criticized the killing of civilians.“Therefore, ISIS would make problems for him and ultimately they killed him,” she said.
"It is not because he is my father, indeed, he was a good person as he was helping people," she claimed.
The mother of four, who was married to a physician, said she had always intended to escape Hawija, but had stayed because of her father’s links to ISIS – or Daesh, as the group is known in Arabic."I always intended to flee Hawija and come to Kirkuk, but my father was against that saying 'I am Daesh, if you go, Kurds will harm you'," she said.
Waisi revealed that – like several top ISIS commanders who have been reported killed by coalition air strikes and other operations – her father was an ex-officer in Saddam Hussein’s army.
She said he had been a Lt.-Gen. in the ousted Baathist regime and was arrested and held for three years by US forces after their 2003 invasion. When he was freed, he joined ISIS and became the group's commander of military operations in Hawija, she said.
The effect of ISIS propaganda was apparent in a school age son that Waisi had brought with her, who vented his anger at the Kurds: "I hate you!” he shouted to a Rudaw reporter. “I like the Islamic State."
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The daughter of a dead ISIS military commander has surrendered to Peshmerga forces, saying she fled her home in the Iraqi town of Hawija – which has been under the Islamic State’s control – to escape coalition aerial bombings.
Marwa, daughter of Khalil Ali Waisi who was the ISIS military commander in the town of Hawija in Kirkuk province before being executed by the terrorist group itself, said that bombardments by the US-led coalition and shortages of electricity and fuel had forced her to flee.
"Before there were kerosene and electricity, but now there are no such things -- all gone," she told Rudaw.
"We were only afraid of the bombings," she said, adding that is why she had fled. “From my point of view, if you don’t do things against ISIS they will not harm you," she claimed.
“What destroyed our lives were coalition warplanes, not ISIS," she said.
Waisi was among a record number of thousands of people from Hawija who surrendered to the Kurdish Peshmerga earlier this week on the western Kirkuk front.
According to Iraqi media reports, Khalid Waisi was executed by ISIS for stealing money from smuggled oil which has been the militants’ economic lifeline.
But his daughter dismissed those claims, saying her father was killed by ISIS because he had criticized the killing of civilians.“Therefore, ISIS would make problems for him and ultimately they killed him,” she said.
"It is not because he is my father, indeed, he was a good person as he was helping people," she claimed.
The mother of four, who was married to a physician, said she had always intended to escape Hawija, but had stayed because of her father’s links to ISIS – or Daesh, as the group is known in Arabic."I always intended to flee Hawija and come to Kirkuk, but my father was against that saying 'I am Daesh, if you go, Kurds will harm you'," she said.
Waisi revealed that – like several top ISIS commanders who have been reported killed by coalition air strikes and other operations – her father was an ex-officer in Saddam Hussein’s army.
She said he had been a Lt.-Gen. in the ousted Baathist regime and was arrested and held for three years by US forces after their 2003 invasion. When he was freed, he joined ISIS and became the group's commander of military operations in Hawija, she said.
The effect of ISIS propaganda was apparent in a school age son that Waisi had brought with her, who vented his anger at the Kurds: "I hate you!” he shouted to a Rudaw reporter. “I like the Islamic State."