The repeated tactic of human shields in the ISIS war

The Islamic State (ISIS) is using civilians in Fallujah as human shields, one of the reasons why the operation to liberate the city is getting stalled. It seems the Iraqi army and the Shiite militias of Hashed al-Shabi are in dispute on how to proceed without killing too many innocent people.

ISIS has brought the use of human shields to a completely new level. It has been a known strategy in Iraq’s wars, but ISIS has developed it to fit its very own needs.

Using human shields is, according to Wikipedia “the deliberate placement of non-combatants in or around combat targets to deter the enemy from attacking these combat targets. It may also refer to the use of persons to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing them to march in front of the combatants.”

The use is illegal according to a number of international conventions. Yet Iraqi people might still remember how former dictator Saddam Hussein held a group of foreign hostages as human shields in 1990. After the invasion of Kuwait of August 1990, he detained hundreds of Westerners in Kuwait and Iraq in order to deter their countries from taking part in the military operations in reaction to the invasion.

Some were brought over to strategic buildings like power stations, oil refineries and military bases. Many were maltreated and traumatized, but all survived.

On the other side, before the American invasion to topple Saddam in 2003, hundreds of volunteers travelled to Iraq to act as human shields. At least eighty of them stayed during the war, some chained themselves to bridges and other places to prevent the Americans from bombing them.

None of them were killed or injured, and the locations they tried to guard were not attacked.

Saddam also used his own people as a shield. When I travelled into Iraq just after the demise of the dictator, I could still see the tanks that were hidden in alley ways in the middle of civilian areas - thus endangering civilians.

ISIS, which is using many of Saddam’s former men and their military knowledge, is copying this idea all over the Caliphate.

Civilians from liberated villages near Makhmour told me, how ISIS would choose one of their houses to make it its local base.

How its fighters would fire at the enemy from right next to their houses, resulting in those being hit, and how the fighters would even take refuge from the enemy in their very homes, forcing families to stay with them.

Unlike Saddam’s hostages, villagers did die as a result of the position ISIS had placed them in; hit when the target they were supposed to shield was attacked.

And by using men dressed as women who blow themselves up when soldiers answer to a call for help, and forcing men to grow beards and dress just like its fighters, ISIS has made all civilians into possible targets.

In Mosul, ISIS is hiding weapons in schools, and explosives factories in buildings of Mosul University. The danger of the latter was shown when one of them was bombed, which resulted in enormous explosions and loss of civilian lives.

In Fallujah, as many as 100,000 civilians are held hostage in their own city, while the Iraqi army and the Hashed al-Shabi are bombing them from outside, ‘to loosen up ISIS’ resistance’, as one of their commanders was quoted.

At the same time, the Iraqi government is asking civilians to leave; somehow ignoring that ISIS is not letting them, as it needs them as human shields.

The group is shooting those who try to escape, and for who does get out, the Shiite militias are an equal danger, as they see all Sunni men who lived under ISIS occupation as part of the group.

So when one manages to flee the human shield he can still be caught and tortured by the militias. For the civilians of Fallujah life is cheap, and their human rights are hardly an issue.

But looking at past wars, we can see that human rights have been under attack in Iraq for decades.

The difference is that before, human shields would survive. In the war against ISIS that is no longer the case, as it does not care for civilians that have not pledged allegiance.

And this is a general problem in Iraq, as the sectarian war raging in Iraq, that will not end when ISIS is defeated, is further decreasing the worth of human lives.

It is a process the main features of which are abuse of power and the belief that God prefers one group to another. As a result, civilians are no longer seen as non-combatants. They are becoming part of the conflict, and thus its main victim.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.