Members of Unitad, the group of investigators tasked with helping to hold IS accountable for its crimes, say they have received “witness, digital and documentary evidence” relating mainly to the use of chemical weapons in Iraq during the caliphate ( 2014-2019).
UN experts say they have documented the use of chemical weapons by the Islamic State jihadist group during its self-proclaimed caliphate, according to a report due to be discussed at the Security Council later today.
Members of Unitad, the group of investigators tasked with helping to hold IS accountable for its crimes, say they have received “witness, digital and documentary evidence” relating mainly to the use of chemical weapons in Iraq during the caliphate ( 2014-2019).
The experts conclude that IS “manufactured and produced rockets and chemical mortars, chemical ammunition for rocket launchers, chemical rocket warheads and improvised explosive devices.”
The investigation focused primarily “on the financing, supply and logistics of IS and its relations with command elements, to better understand what the alleged chemical weapons manufacturing, production and use facilities were in Iraq, to ​​obtain additional information on the agents prepared and the agents used”.
The experts focused in particular on an attack on the Iraqi city of Taza Hormatou on March 8, 2016. They say they secured “a lot of evidence” mainly “payments and correspondence” of the jihadist group.
The team “reviewed evidence of compensation to families for the ‘torture’ of their members killed while handling chemical weapons, as well as records of training distributed to high-ranking agents on the use of chemicals, such as weapons, mainly chemical dispersal devices.”
Among the products used were “aluminum phosphide, chlorine, Clostridium botulinum, cyanide, nicotine, ricin and thallium sulfate.”
The report highlights “the health complications that the residents of Taza Hormatou currently suffer from (chronic diseases, cancers and reproductive disorders, in particular).
– “Currency Services” –
The report also mentions other major crimes, including mass sexual violence, the persecution of the Iraqi Christian community and other communities, and the destruction of cultural and religious heritage.
Furthermore, referring to IS funding, Unitad “significantly increased its evidence base against those who, in the commercial money services networks, provided logistical support to (IS) and benefited from its campaigns of violence.”
According to Unitad, “operational links had been established between the Mosul and Baghdad networks and the larger regional networks of the Middle East and the Gulf region”.
Evidence “demonstrates a close relationship” between IS leaders “and certain money service companies, which became complicit in schemes to extort money from the local population, in which they ensured the management and transfer of looted wealth.”
The group also began considering “taking control and exploitation” of Iraqi oil.
The jihadists established a “caliphate” in June 2014 in a vast area spanning Iraq and Syria. An international coalition, led by the United States, fought the group until the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured IS’s last stronghold, the eastern Syrian city of Baghuz, in March 2019, signing the end of the “caliphate”.
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