ISIS claims responsibility for fires on Syria-Iraq border
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Islamic State (ISIS) militants burned lands of Sunni fighters and Yazidis in Nineveh, on the Iraqi border with Syria, in early June, the group said on Thursday. ISIS’ claim comes amid regular reports of fires spreading in areas with security vacuums.
The terrorist group announced in the 187 edition of al-Naba, their propaganda newsletter released on June 20, that their militants “burned a number of crops of Hashd al-Ashairi”, referring to Sunni members of the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMFs), paramilitias founded five years ago to combat ISIS.
ISIS wrote that they started fires last week in the town of Rabia in Nineveh by planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on farms.
They also claimed to have “burned a fire truck and killed its driver and a number of Hashd [al-Shaabi] fighters”, referring to the Arabic name for the PMFs.
After years of drought, Iraqi farmers had high hopes that the heavy rainfall in winter and spring would lend to a strong and profitable harvest season. However, these hopes for the harvest season have been marred by fires engulfing agricultural fields, with most people blaming ISIS for the flames.
Iraq’s harvest season began in April. Since then, crop fires have sprung up across the disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad, including in Nineveh, Kirkuk , Saladin, and Diyala provinces.
Over 600 dunams of wheat fields in Khanaqin, Qaratapa, Jabara and the plains of Qamishalan were set ablaze in Diyala province within one week in May.
The head of the Kirkuk Agriculture Directorate, Zuhail Ali, told Rudaw English on June 15, that "8,500 dunams of land have burned across Kirkuk province.
Ali added that the sources of the blazes vary, ranging from unidentified perpetrators to electrical fires.
Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the Iraqi prime minister, has downplayed ISIS’ role in the fires.
“We have fires every year. Not all fires are the work of Daesh or hostility…some of them are internal feuds between landowners, between farmers,” the Iraqi PM said last month, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Hassan Ibrahim, deputy head of Iraqi Civil Defense General Directorate, told al-Mawsleya TV on June 18 that the fire incidents had been investigated and they had concluded that some of the blame lay with ISIS, but some cases were also because of a lack of awareness from farmers.
“There is also a shortcoming from the farmers. Farmers used to protect their lands as well as participate in trainings.”
ISIS claimed in al-Naba last month that a “hot summer” is awaiting “the rejectionists and apostates,” using two terms it often employs for Muslims who don’t adhere to the group’s interpretation of Islam.
Iraq declared ISIS defeated in December 2017, following the offensive to liberate Mosul city in Nineveh. Kurdish forces in Syria announced the defeat of ISIS in Syria this past March.
However, remnants of the group have retreated into Iraq’s deserts and mountains where they have resumed earlier tactics, and have exploited a security gap in areas disputed by Erbil and Baghdad that are mostly protected by villagers.