The three men, taken to Syria by their parents at the age of 11 or 12, were allegedly forced to participate in propaganda activities, policing duties and combat roles under Islamic State, according to legal filings submitted in France.

A source familiar with the case said the detainees are seeking recognition as victims of a war crime due to their recruitment as minors.Their lawyers, Marie Dose and Matthieu Bagard, said in a joint statement that the French authorities were failing to uphold obligations under international conventions prohibiting the use of child soldiers.

They argued that the men’s transfer to Iraq and continued detention amounted to inhumane treatment rather than victim protection.The detainees are among approximately 5,700 suspected Islamic State fighters of multiple nationalities transferred from Syria to Iraqi custody earlier this year, following shifts in territorial control in northern Syria.

France has opened investigations into the three men for alleged terrorism-related offenses committed during their time in Syria.The lawyers contend that, instead of pursuing prosecution, French authorities should prioritize repatriation and rehabilitation, citing the circumstances under which the individuals were recruited and their age at the time.

Hundreds of French citizens joined the Islamic State after it seized large areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and declared a so-called caliphate. Iraqi authorities, supported by a U.S.-led coalition, declared victory over the group in 2017, while Kurdish-led forces in Syria defeated its remaining strongholds in 2019.

Since then, thousands of suspected fighters and their families have been held in detention facilities across Syria and Iraq. Kurdish authorities in Syria have repeatedly called on foreign governments to repatriate their nationals, but most Western countries, including France, have proceeded cautiously, often handling returns on a case-by-case basis.

The recent transfer of detainees to Iraq has renewed scrutiny over their legal status and future, particularly in cases involving individuals recruited as minors.

Al-Sharaa met Starmer at 10 Downing Street, marking the first visit by a Syrian head of state to London since former president Bashar Assad traveled to the UK in 2002.According to a Downing Street spokesperson, discussions covered migration returns, border security and efforts to combat people-smuggling networks.

Starmer also welcomed steps taken by Damascus against Daesh, citing progress in counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries.The talks also addressed broader regional stability concerns alongside economic cooperation.

The visit comes as Syria seeks foreign investment to rebuild infrastructure damaged during years of civil war. Al-Sharaa is expected to hold further meetings with senior British officials during his stay.

He was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani and Economy Minister Nidal Al-Shaar.European outreach continuesAl-Sharaa arrived in London following a visit to Germany, where he met Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as part of a broader diplomatic push to re-engage European partners.

No specific agreements were announced following the London meeting.

Sharaa, whose forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad late last year, is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. The visit marks the first by a Syrian head of state to the United States since the country’s independence in 1946, analysts said.

The interim Syrian leader previously met Trump in Riyadh in May during the U.S. president’s regional tour.

Washington’s envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said earlier this month that Sharaa was expected to sign an agreement for Syria to join the international U.S.-led coalition against the Daesh (Islamic State) group.

According to a diplomatic source in Damascus, the United States also plans to establish a military base near the Syrian capital “to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel.”

Delisting and Diplomatic Shifts

The U.S. State Department’s decision to remove Sharaa from the terrorism blacklist on Friday had been widely anticipated.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Sharaa’s government had made progress in addressing key American demands, including cooperation on locating missing U.S. citizens and eliminating any remaining chemical weapons stockpiles.

“These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership after the departure of Bashar Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime,” Pigott said.

He added that removing Sharaa from the blacklist would promote “regional security and stability as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.”

Crackdown on Daesh

Syria’s interior ministry announced on Saturday that it had carried out 61 raids and made 71 arrests in a “proactive campaign to neutralize the threat” of Daesh, according to the state-run SANA news agency.

The ministry said the operations targeted suspected Islamic State sleeper cells across several provinces, including Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Damascus.

Following his arrival in Washington, Sharaa met with representatives of Syrian community organizations in the U.S. capital, Syrian media reported.

In a lighthearted moment ahead of his departure, Syrian Foreign Minister posted a video on social media showing Sharaa playing basketball with U.S. CENTCOM Commander Gen. Brad Cooper and Kevin Lambert, head of the international anti-Daesh coalition in Iraq, with the caption: “Work hard, play harder.”

From Rebel Commander to Statesman

Sharaa’s visit to Washington follows his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in September — his first trip to U.S. soil — where he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the assembly in New York.

On Thursday, the U.S. led a Security Council vote to lift U.N. sanctions against him.

Once affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Sharaa formerly led the militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which was delisted as a terrorist organization by Washington in July.

Since seizing power, Syria’s new leadership has sought to distance itself from its extremist roots and project a more moderate, internationally acceptable image.

“The White House visit is further testament to the U.S. commitment to the new Syria and a hugely symbolic moment for the country’s new leader, who thus marks another step in his astonishing transformation from militant leader to global statesman,” said Michael Hanna, U.S. Program Director at the International Crisis Group.

Reconstruction Challenges Ahead

Sharaa is expected to seek international funding for Syria’s post-war reconstruction during his visit. The country faces enormous economic and humanitarian challenges after 13 years of civil conflict.

In October, the World Bank estimated the cost of rebuilding Syria at a “conservative best estimate” of $216 billion.

As Washington and Damascus cautiously rebuild diplomatic ties, Sharaa’s visit signals what many observers see as a historic turning point — both for Syria’s reemergence on the world stage and for a region long defined by conflict and isolation.

The sites were inaugurated on Wednesday in the presence of Iraq’s Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, the President of the Sunni Waqf, the Governor of Nineveh, and the Chaldean and Syriac Orthodox archbishops. Local residents joined representatives of international partners who helped fund and carry out the restoration.

The projects were financed by the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH) as part of its Mosul Mosaic programme, launched in 2019 with the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH). The initiative aims to rebuild the city’s cultural and religious landmarks destroyed between 2014 and 2017.

“These monuments, once symbols of Mosul’s diversity, now stand as symbols of its resilience,” said Bariza Khiari, chair of the ALIPH Foundation Board. “Their restoration shows what can be achieved through determination and cooperation.”

The Al-Tahira Chaldean Church, an 18th-century site revered by both Christians and Muslims, has regained its signature dome and ornamental carvings that were lost during the Daesh occupation.

The Mar Toma Syriac Orthodox Church, dating back to the seventh century, was rebuilt after being vandalised and partially destroyed during the battle for Mosul. Its thirteenth-century marble “Door of the Twelve Apostles” has been fully restored.

The Al-Raabiya Mosque, constructed in 1766 and badly damaged in 2017, now once again displays its distinctive Ottoman-era stone mihrab decorated with geometric motifs.

Since 2018, ALIPH has funded nearly 50 projects across Iraq, investing more than $25 million in Mosul alone. The Mosul Mosaic programme has also supported the rehabilitation of the city’s museum, scheduled to reopen in 2026, and several other historic sites including the Al-Masfi Mosque and the Beit al-Tutunji House.

Founded in Geneva in 2017, ALIPH supports the protection and restoration of cultural heritage in conflict zones. Backed by countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, and France, the foundation has financed more than 550 projects in 54 countries.

For the people of Mosul, the reopening of these sacred sites represents more than reconstruction. It marks, at last, the return of life to the city’s war-scarred heart.

The webinar focused on some of the key-points such as: Abraham Accords, Israel-Pakistan relations, the rise of Islamism in Middle-East, the latest reforms taking place under Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the constant attacks Saudi Arabia has to face from the western media, etc.

The live video had technical issue from 3:40 – 4:20. Please use the YouTube link as a substitute.

Guests

1 – Lt. Col. Anthony (Tony) Shaffer. He is a Senior Fellow and President of the London Center for Policy Research, and he served as Defense Intelligence Officer for 28 years. He was also Advisory Board Member of Trump2020 campaign. Lt. Col. Shaffer has appeared on Fox News, CNN, and other major TV and radio programs, and has been interviewed by The New York Times and other publications on pre-9/11 operations focused on Al Qaeda. He is the author of Operation Dark Heart, and the novel The Last Line.

2 – Ahmed Quraishi, who is a journalist, commentator, and author, with presence in the media of the Middle East and Pakistan. He covered the Afghanistan war for Aljazeera (Arabic), and was embedded with U.S. military in Iraq. He has hosted foreign policy related television talk shows. He covered events in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. Mr. Quraishi has participated in academic exercises involving Pakistani and American militaries (2006); joined in a Sino-Pakistani academic exchange in Beijing (2005); and sat in closed-door academic discussions organized in Kuwait City by U.S. and Gulf institutions on strategies for post-Saddam Iraq (in 2000, before the war).

3 – Dalia Ziada, who is an Egyptian author/writer, and award-winning blogger. She is the author of “The Curious Case of the Three-Legged Wolf – Egypt: Military, Islamism, and Liberal Democracy”. She currently works as the Director of the Liberal Democracy Institute, a think tank advising policymakers in Egypt and the Middle East. Dalia’s story and struggle for liberal democratization in Egypt is profiled in American best-selling books such as: Robin Wright’s “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World”. Ziada worked as the Executive Director of Ibn Khaldun Center for Democratic Studies; and regional director for The American Islamic Congress. Currently, she leads the Liberal Democracy Institute. In addition, Ziada is a board member of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the National Council for Women in Egypt.

4 – Khaled Homoud Alshareef, who is a Saudi political analyst. Khaled holds PhD in Business and he earned Masters in Philosophy. He often writes about Islamism, Islamist factions and modern Terrorism.

5 – Mohammed Abbasi, who is Director of Association of British Muslims. He worked as a peace activist and conflict resolution specialist. He is part of Football for Peace Global, and he advises sports for peace organizations internationally. He has met Prime Ministers and Presidents including British, Pakistani and Indonesian. Abbasi also speaks on military strategy such as the Chinese Art of War which is used by many military academies around the world and also speaks on mind mapping, memory skills and coaches on meditation and mindfulness.

Moderator

The webinar was moderated by Zahack Tanvir, who is a Saudi-based Non Resident Indian (NRI). He is professionally an ERP Consultant. He also holds Diploma in Journalism from London School of Journalism. Tanvir founded The Milli Chronicle in September 2018, and he’s been working on a non-commercial basis to publish the works of notable researchers and Think-Tank groups, mainly focused on exposing the Islamist and other extremist factions.

Campaigners have hailed the process in Germany as a first step toward justice for thousands of Syrians…

Should former members of the Syrian security forces who have defected from President Bashar al-Assad’s government be prosecuted for war crimes, or should they serve as key witnesses in an effort to bring senior officials to justice?

The question has divided Syrian refugees and exiles who have fled a civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and that has been marked by atrocities since it broke out in 2011.

In Germany, home to 600,000 Syrian refugees, prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to prosecute crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world to seek justice for victims of alleged torture and extrajudicial killings by Assad’s forces.

In the first case to be brought to a German court, the trial opened in April of two former Syrian intelligence officers on charges of torture and sexual assault.

The two suspects had defected in 2012 and were granted asylum in Germany. Many of the Syrians now in Germany are asking if the defectors are friends or foes.

“The trial in Germany is wrong, strategically and morally. Defectors risked their lives to join the opposition and discredit the regime,” said Fawaz Tello, a veteran Syrian dissident.

“Who in their right mind is going to defect now when they see that people who had defected in the first months of the revolution are being put on trial?”

The Syrian government has regularly rejected reports of torture and extrajudicial killings documented by international human rights groups.

Justice for Victims

Mahmoud Alabdulah, a former colonel in the Syrian army’s elite 4th Division, is one of hundreds of defectors who have given testimonies to German and French judicial officials collecting evidence of alleged war crimes by the Syrian government during the still-unresolved war.

He says a military card identifying his rank is the most valuable item of the few belongings he carried when he left Syria six years ago.

The pink, plastic-covered piece of paper has given more credence to testimonies he delivered in France and Germany against the Syrian government, he says.

“I saw soldiers being executed for refusing to open fire on protesters and heavy artillery fired toward civilian areas,” said Alabdulah, a 56-year-old father of five, rolling a cigarette in a modest apartment in the eastern German city of Gera where he lives with his wife.

“I remember the night I decided to defect: February 13, 2012,” Alabdulah said. “I was praying in my room, lights off, at the Saboura military base (west of Damascus) and I said, ‘God, I don’t want to take part in such crimes, please help me get out of here’.”

Campaigners have hailed the process in Germany as a first step toward justice for thousands of Syrians who say they were tortured in government facilities after attempts to establish an international tribunal for Syria failed.

“No one has the right to tell victims they should not seek justice,” said Anwar al-Bunni of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) which is representing victims in the torture trial.

“Ignoring suspected war criminals is equivalent to white-washing the Assad regime.”

The main defendant in the trial, Anwar R., is charged with 58 murders in a Damascus prison where prosecutors say at least 4,000 opposition activists were tortured in 2011 and 2012. He has denied all the charges.

He was an intelligence colonel in Assad’s security apparatus but defected in 2012 to Turkey, where he became active in the opposition Free Syrian Army. He came to Germany in 2014 and was granted asylum.

The dissident Tello said Anwar R. was a member of an opposition delegation at U.N.-sponsored talks in Geneva six years ago aimed at ending the conflict, which makes his trial a “humiliation” for opposition groups marred by infighting.

Former army colonel Alabdulah questioned whether it was realistic for everyone who committed a crime to face justice.

Asked if he feared charges could be filed against him, Alabdulah told Reuters his conscience was clear. He fought against Assad’s forces and Islamic State militants before he fled to Turkey, he said.

“We are not even close to winning the war. Even if we did, there should be some kind of a general amnesty,” he said. “The Assad family and its most loyal lieutenants should be tried.”

Daesh’s activity in Turkey is well known as the Eurasian country’s police have conducted operations against cells of the terrorist group. 

The United States has revealed the identity of a major money facilitator for the Daesh terrorist group in Turkey as part of the activity against the jihadist group’s global financial networks.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department noted that Daesh’s supplier Adnan Muhammad Amin al-Rawi had financially assisted the terrorist group with financial, material or technological support.

“This action coincides with the 13th meeting of the Counter Daesh Finance Group (CIFG), which includes more than 60 countries and international organizations, and plays a key role in coordinating efforts to deny Daesh access to the international financial system and eliminate his sources of income,” the official agency said. 

Along these lines, the U.S. Treasury requires that all property and interests of relevant persons in the U.S. or in the possession or control of U.S. persons be blocked and reported to OFAC.

In addition, any foreign financial institution that knowingly conducts or facilitates any substantial transaction on behalf of individuals and entities designated by OFAC would be subject to Washington sanctions.

Daesh’s activity in Turkey is well known as the Eurasian country’s police have conducted operations against cells of the terrorist group. On July 19, Turkish police forces arrested 27 people in 15 districts of Istanbul for having links with Daesh; they were suspected of preparing to carry out an attack.

According to Colin Clarke, a senior investigator into terrorist financing networks with the Soufan Group, Daesh’s financial networks are, as expected, still active in Turkey. “Daesh has laundered its illicit profits in Turkey through money service businesses and intermediaries who seek to profit from illegally obtained profits. I believe Daesh’s financial networks could help sustain the group for the next decade,” Colin Clarke told Arab News. 

Since last year, Turkey’s financial crime watchdog MASAK has been pursuing the terrorist group’s illegal money transfer system, pointing to those accused of transferring money to Daesh through the Hawala chain as suspects. Jewellery companies or exchange offices based in Turkey and Syria are believed to be acting as a front for these illegal money transfers.

Last November, Washington blacklisted three companies based in Turkey and two Turkish individuals on charges of providing financial and logistical support to Daesh in Syria and Iraq through currency exchange offices and import/export operations. The sanctions are designed to freeze any assets on U.S. soil in the hands of named individuals and companies and to prohibit Americans from doing business with them.

Despite the territorial defeats suffered by Daesh, such as the one in Syria, the terrorist group has found new ways to survive, such as various businesses, smuggling, donations, kidnapping and extortion to wealthy people in the areas where it operates in the eastern desert of Syria and the border region between Syria and Iraq.

“The international community realizes that exhausting Daesh’s financial resources is a major factor in neutralizing the group’s military operations. Therefore, CIFG has been monitoring and sanctioning some money transfer offices that are involved in illegitimate activities and operating in both Syria and Iraq,” said Orwa Ajjoub, a research affiliate at the Centre for Middle Easter Studies at Lund University.

Ajjoub believes that the difficulty in achieving this lies in the ability to control the process of transferring remittances from the point of sending to the moment of receipt by the beneficiaries. “Other ways of channelling resources to Daesh’s fighters include social networking campaigns and donations in crypto currencies, which require rigorous cyber security measures to contain them,” he told Arab News.

Thus, Turkey remains in the eye of the storm because of alleged links with jihadist elements. In this sense, various media have reported on the connections of the Eurasian country with mercenaries in pay assigned to groups linked in the past to terrorist entities such as Daesh or Al-Qaeda, which it uses to its benefit in the wars in Syria and Libya, where it takes an active part within the Turkish strategy aimed at strengthening its geostrategic position in the Mediterranean and the Middle East and at benefiting from the exploitation of economic zones in relation to gas and oil prospecting.

Article first published on Atalayar.

Traffic snarls across battered bridges and disabled war victims sell tissues, cigarettes and tea at junctions…

Mosul (Reuters) – Three years ago, the world rejoiced when Iraqi forces backed by the United States and Iran liberated this ancient city from the brutal rule of Islamic State. The people of Mosul hoped to rebuild their shattered lives.

Today, a different battle plays out.

Taking place largely behind the scenes, from legislative halls that overlook the city’s bombed-out streets to hotel meeting rooms in Baghdad, it is a power struggle among parties, politicians and militiamen. Some are backed by Iran. Others favour the United States.

At stake: political control of Nineveh province, of which Mosul is capital – a region rich in natural resources and a link in a supply route from Tehran to the Mediterranean. The route serves Iran-backed militias, Washington’s fiercest enemy here since the defeat of Islamic State.

Iran’s allies had been winning. They installed a governor favoured by Tehran a year ago. But then anti-government protests, U.S. sanctions and the assassination of Iran’s military mastermind Qassem Soleimani challenged Iranian influence. The pro-Western camp replaced the Nineveh governor with a longtime U.S. ally.

The contest mirrors a wider struggle over the future of Iraq itself.

Speaking to Reuters over the span of a year, around 20 Iraqi officials involved in the political tussle over Nineveh described how Iran and its allies developed the networks to influence local government, how pro-Western officials tried to hit back, and how this tug of war has crippled Mosul’s recovery. If any side prevails, many of these insiders believe, it will ultimately be the side aligned with Iran. Iran helps its allies with money, political backing and sticks with them, explained Nineveh councilor Ali Khdeir. The United States, in contrast, “has left no real mark on Iraq.”

Mosul, meanwhile, lies largely in ruins. Traffic snarls across battered bridges and disabled war victims sell tissues, cigarettes and tea at junctions – the kind of misery that Iraqi officials fear is the perfect breeding ground for Islamic State to reemerge.

Two changes of governor in 2019 meant contracts for projects worth at least $200 million were not awarded by the local government last year. They included building a new emergency hospital, procuring vehicles to clear rubble from bombed-out homes and bolstering the fleet for Mosul’s under-equipped first-responder teams, according to officials and a local government document seen by Reuters.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State accused Iran of working “overtime to dominate every aspect of Iraq’s political and economic life.” The United States is committed to helping Iraq build its economic prospects and improve stability and security, said the spokesperson, Morgan Ortagus.

A spokesperson for Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York, Alireza Miryousefi, insisted: “Iran does not interfere in Iraq’s internal affairs.”

The Iraqi government didn’t respond to detailed questions for this article. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi told Reuters in response to a question about Mosul that corruption and political infighting hampered the city’s recovery, but denied it was part of a proxy contest.

“We Had A Modest Life And Simple Dreams”

Rasha Saeed’s young family is one of thousands suffering from the failures of city hall.

Still mourning the death of their nine-year-old son, killed in a U.S. coalition air strike in 2015, the family returned to their neighbourhood after its liberation from Islamic State. They found their home had been destroyed by bombs and bulldozed over. Rasha, her husband Luay Shaker and their three remaining children live in debt and in limbo in a partially-repaired rented flat nearby. They watch grass grow on the earth where their old house stood. Residents say Islamic State fighters’ bodies are buried beneath.

Luay, a manual labourer who ferried supplies before the war to stores in Mosul’s historic Old City markets, cannot work while he recovers from an operation to remove a tumour from behind his ear. Limited space at the West Mosul medical complex nearby – where a new hospital was meant to go up – means follow-up treatment is sporadic and slow. “It can be a long wait between appointments because Luay’s doctor can take only three patients on site a week,” Rasha said.

The medical complex is a cluster of portacabins on a vast bombed-out site that once boasted five fully-equipped hospitals with hundreds of beds. It currently has around 80 emergency ward beds for a population of more than a million people living in the area, doctors say. They describe a lack of equipment and medicine, including masks and gloves – a concern especially as cases of COVID-19 rise in Iraq. A spokesperson for Iraq’s Health Ministry responded that protective equipment is available in all state health institutions.

Rasha’s temporary home stands alone amid destruction on a hill above the Tigris River, overlooking Mosul.

“We had a modest life before Islamic State, simple dreams to live without violence, for our children to be educated and maybe one day to afford a bigger home. That is now impossible,” Rasha said.

A Change In City Hall

The political contest for Nineveh is part of a wider picture across Iraq’s northern Sunni-majority provinces, former strongholds of dictator Saddam Hussein which hold strategic value for Tehran – and where Washington wants to curb Iranian influence.

The fertile plains of Nineveh flank Syria to the west, where Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have fought alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Beyond is Lebanon, home to Shi’ite Iran’s Hezbollah allies. The provinces of Anbar, bisected by the vast Euphrates River, Salahuddin, home to an important Shi’ite shrine, and Diyala, which borders Iran, form the rest of that mostly Sunni land corridor. Many of the 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq – a number that is being reduced – have been deployed at bases dotted through three of these provinces and are regularly harassed by rocket attacks that U.S. officials have blamed on Iranian proxies who want U.S. troops to leave.

Iran firmly established dominance over Baghdad and Iraq’s southern Shi’ite provinces after the 2003 U.S. -led invasion that ousted Saddam. But the country’s Sunni areas, home also to minority groups of Kurds, Christians, Shi’ite Turkmen and Yazidis, presented more of a challenge. They became hubs for a Sunni insurgency against U.S. forces in the mid-2000s and strongholds for Islamic State, which made Mosul its capital in 2014.

After Iran-backed militias helped drive Islamic State from Mosul in 2017, the militias stayed put. Their flags fly throughout northern Iraq, next to banners and billboards that honour their leaders, including the late Soleimani.

Twenty local government officials, Baghdad lawmakers and tribal leaders interviewed by Reuters described how Iran then deepened its political influence until it had allies in almost every provincial administration.

Central to such efforts in Nineveh, these sources said, were two powerful Sunnis – Khamis al-Khanjar, an Anbar businessman turned politician, and Ahmed al-Jabouri, widely known as Abu Mazen, a former governor of Salahuddin province, now sitting in the Iraqi parliament.

Khanjar was an outspoken opponent of Iran. He supported Sunni protests against the Iran-backed Baghdad government in 2013 and later accused Iran-allied Shi’ite militias of human rights abuses. Abu Mazen was once a U.S. ally. He described working closely with U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion.

In 2018, Khanjar and Abu Mazen unexpectedly joined a bloc of Iran-backed parties and militia leaders in the Iraqi parliament. Explaining this shift, Khanjar said: “The strongest on the ground can get things done … I go with the bloc that’s (strongest) on the ground. If that coalition has Iranian links, that’s not on us.” He denied being an ally of Iran. Abu Mazen declined to comment for this article.

Then, in May 2019, Khanjar and Abu Mazen intervened in the selection of Nineveh’s new governor, according to nine sources, including several members of the regional administrative council and relatives of the two men. A majority of Nineveh’s 39 councilors, tasked with electing the new governor, initially favoured a candidate critical of Iran, these sources said. But two days before the council was due to vote, Abu Mazen and Khanjar invited nearly two dozen council members to a meeting in a hotel in nearby Erbil, said several people, one of whom attended.

The council members were promised local government posts or payments of up to $300,000 apiece from the men or their offices if they voted for a different candidate, Mansour al-Mareid, a Sunni favoured by Iran and its allies in Baghdad, these people said. One council member told Reuters he accepted money and used it to buy a new home.

Mareid was duly elected with the votes of 28 of the 39 council members.

Khanjar confirmed he and Abu Mazen met with councilors in Erbil to agree on the governor and negotiate over provincial posts. He also confirmed he supported Mareid, but denied that votes were bought. “I didn’t pay a single dinar,” he said.

Mareid, the winning candidate, said he had no knowledge of bribes being given to councilors and he denied any loyalty to Iran, but he added: “Council members can be bought, so it wouldn’t surprise me, and nothing can happen in this country without Iran approving it.”

The gathering in Erbil wasn’t the only meeting that took place around that time. Three of the councilors interviewed by Reuters described further meetings and contacts with senior Iraqi paramilitary officials who were trying to win support for Mareid.

Another Nineveh councilor recounted that he and a colleague were invited to a hotel in Baghdad shortly after the vote to meet a senior Iranian diplomat and an Iraqi militia leader loyal to Iran. The councilor, who had loudly criticized Mareid’s appointment, said he was offered a post in the Nineveh government if he would drop his opposition to the new governor. He said he declined the offer. The Iranian embassy didn’t reply to questions about the meeting. Reuters couldn’t reach the militia leader. The Iraqi state paramilitary Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) that oversees militias didn’t respond.

U.S. pushes back

Within a few months the pendulum had swung again.

The United States imposed sanctions on Iran-aligned militia leaders and on their Iraqi Sunni allies – among them Abu Mazen in July and Khanjar in December.

The U.S. Treasury said it was freezing Abu Mazen’s assets because he had protected “his personal interests by accommodating Iran-backed proxies that operate outside of state control.” It targeted Khanjar in a round of sanctions against Iran-backed militia leaders, accusing him of bribery and saying he had spent “millions of dollars in payments to Iraqi political figures in order to secure their support.”

Abu Mazen and Khanjar denied any wrongdoing at the time and condemned the U.S. sanctions as interference in Iraq’s internal affairs.

Abu Mazen felt under pressure as a result of the U.S. move, said a relative and five Nineveh councilors. The measures helped persuade Abu Mazen, these sources said, to withdraw support for Mareid and back a former military commander and U.S. ally, Najm al-Jabouri [no relation], to replace him as governor. In November, 23 of the council’s 39 members voted to dismiss Mareid and appoint Jabouri.

Jabouri’s appointment and the pressure on Iran’s allies across the country from U.S. air strikes and sanctions have given militia groups pause in Mosul, local officials say. Their military presence has reduced on inner city streets where Shi’ite and militia flags once flew atop mosques and junkyards they controlled.

Pro-U.S. officials in Mosul hope that the government of Prime Minister Kadhimi, who is accepted by both the United States and Iran, together with fractures among Iran-backed militias following the death of Soleimani, will turn the tide against Tehran’s influence. But they also complain that Governor Jabouri is mostly hamstrung against Iran’s militia and political allies in Mosul.

“Jabouri is weak politically,” said Mosul council member Ali Khdeir. “Because of their power on the ground, he’ll have to deal carefully with the militias at first.”

Jabouri told Reuters that any governor would face criticism and he defended his record. He conceded that political rivalries were impeding progress in rebuilding the city. “It makes my work harder,” he said.

Four local officials said some administrative posts have changed hands and are no longer controlled by allies of Iran-backed militias, but others are still held by officials with links to militia groups. The militias also have offices in Mosul, these local officials said, through which they win construction and other business contracts, even though such offices were banned by a central government decree last year. The militia groups did not respond to Reuters questions about their activities.

A City in Ruins

Amid this chaos, reconstruction stalls.

The power vacuum between Mareid and Jabouri just weeks before the end of 2019 prevented contracts being awarded at a crucial time when the annual budget needed to be spent, a senior local administrator and a second official said.

A document signed by the head of municipalities, Abdul Qadir al-Dakhil, and reviewed by Reuters showed that provincial authorities failed to award contracts worth more than $200 million in Nineveh province in 2019. They included the new emergency hospital, equipment for another nearby hospital, providing additional vehicles for the civil defence rescue services and rehabilitating 13 schools, Dakhil told Reuters.

Dr Omar Hamudat, who helps run the West Mosul emergency medical complex, worked in Mosul hospitals under international sanctions in the 1990s and under Islamic State’s occupation. Hamudat said healthcare infrastructure was the worst it had ever been.

“Once we could carry out 200 emergency operations a day here. Now, we manage about 15,” he said, speaking in his cramped portacabin office at the complex.

Nineveh province had hospitals with a total of about 4,000 beds before the arrival of Islamic State. It has a little over 1,000 now, including in what Hamudat called his “caravans,” a reference to the portacabins.

Mosul’s civil defence chief, Hossam Khalil, said a provision of emergency vehicles such as fire engines and ambulances, expected in 2019, had not come through. “Sometimes we have to use our own cars for work,” Khalil said, “but try not to do that for crucial life-saving work, or putting out fires.”

Residents of Mosul have praised Jabouri’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, where a lockdown has so far avoided a mass outbreak, but some worry he is not up to the task of rebuilding the city. Many just want a competent governor, regardless of political affiliation.

“Mareid began getting things done,” said Safwan al-Madany, a 30-year-old activist who has been involved in voluntary aid projects for his city since 2011 and rebuilding work since the fall of Islamic State.

During Mareid’s six-month tenure, some bridges in the city were fixed. “He had the contacts, power and connections in Baghdad to make things happen, even if those were paramilitary-linked. He’s an engineer by trade and understands construction. Jabouri is a military man. We wish Mareid would come back,” said Madany.

Enduring Influence

Across the rest of the Sunni provinces that lie between Nineveh and Baghdad, regional councilors, tribal chiefs and members of Iraq’s parliament say Iran’s efforts to entrench local political allies will likely outlast the U.S. tactics of air strikes and economic sanctions.

Potential friends of America lament what they see as a lack of U.S. interest or ability to blunt Iran’s influence in the country allied troops invaded 17 years ago. In February 2019, the head of Salahuddin provincial council, Ahmed al-Krayem, travelled to Washington to drum up U.S. support for his region and help counter Iran.

“The visit wasn’t fruitful,” said a senior Iraqi lawmaker, a relative of Krayem.

“Whoever he met didn’t seem interested in his proposals for a bolstered U.S. troop presence and U.S. investment.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which hosted Krayem at a private event during that trip, declined to give details about the gathering. Krayem also declined to comment.

A Salahuddin official said that by contrast, “the Iranians, including their diplomats at the embassy, reach out to people you’d never expect them to, at a local level.”

Asked about U.S. engagement in Iraq, Department of State spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said: “We will continue to stand with the Iraqi people in support of their calls for reform and change, and to help them achieve an Iraq that is economically prosperous, a pivotal country in the region, and free of foreign meddling.”

Other Salahuddin Sunni chieftains have met Shi’ite paramilitary officials to plead over the return of Sunni families displaced by the war with Islamic State and scattered in camps and temporary homes across northern Iraq. They worry about the drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq, saying it opens up their regions to the danger of a resurgent Islamic State.

“A few years ago I would never have dealt with Iran-backed officials,” said Sheikh Khalid al-Nasseri, a senior leader in Saddam Hussein’s clan. “Now I’ll work with anyone to get services for our people and return families to their homes from miserable camps.”

Al-Baghdadi killed himself during the raid by detonating a suicide vest, Trump said in a televised address from the White House.

Here are reactions to the announcement:

The United States

Republican Senator Lindsay Graham, speaking at the White House on Sunday, said “What the president said today was very reassuring to me – that when it comes to ISIS and other terrorists groups, we’re coming after you, wherever you go, as long as it takes to protect our country and our way of life.”

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, criticized Trump not notifying the US Congressional leadership prior to the raid. She also said in a statement “The death of al-Baghdadi is significant, but the death of this ISIS leader does not mean the death of ISIS. Scores of ISIS fighters remain under uncertain conditions in Syrian prisons, and countless others in the region and around the world remain intent on spreading their influence and committing acts of terror.”

US Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican and regular critic of Trump, said on Twitter “Al-Baghdadi spread ‘fire and brimstone’ on earth; now he feels it for himself in hell. To all who arranged his change of venue-the intel officers, the President, the warriors-thank you.”

Joe Biden, contender for the Democratic nomination to face Trump in the 2020 presidential election said “We cannot afford to get distracted or take our eye off the target. ISIS remains a threat to the American people and our allies, and we must keep up the pressure to prevent ISIS from ever regrouping or again threatening the United States.”

Iraq

The Iraqi government said in a statement “Following extensive work by a dedicated team for over a year, Iraq’s National Intelligence Service was able to accurately pinpoint the hideout of the terrorist Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in the Syrian province of Idlib.”

It added “Subsequently , US forces, in coordination with Iraq’s National Intelligence Service, carried out an operation which led to the elimination of the terrorist Al-Baghdadi.”

“Iraq’s Armed Forces and intelligence services will continue to work with Iraq’s partners in the coalition to relentlessly pursue Daesh (ISIS) terrorists and to defeat their ideology,” read the statement.

Bahrain

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said in a tweet: “AL-Baghdadi’s death is a severe blow to ISIS, and we applaud the “brothers and allies” for their effort and success in finding and getting rid of him.”

Russia

Major-General Igor Konashenkov, quoted by RIA news agency as saying that “The Russian Ministry of Defense does not have reliable information on the operation by US servicemen… on yet another ‘elimination’ of former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”

Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of upper house of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, tells Interfax news agency: “… Last respects have been paid to al-Baghdadi at least five times in the past. (Also) countering terrorism is a much more difficult task than the physical destruction of its leaders, even the most irreconcilable.”

France

French President Emmanuel Macron said the death of the ISIS leader is just a step, adding that the fight must continue to finally defeat the extremists.

“The death of al-Baghdadi is a hard blow against Daesh (ISIS) but it is just a stage,” Macron wrote on Twitter.

“The fight will continue with our partners in the international coalition to ensure that the terror organization is definitively defeated. It is our priority,” he added.

While, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said on Twitter: “Baghdadi: early retirement for a terrorist, but not for his organization. I congratulate our American allies with this operation. My thoughts today are for all the victims of the madness of Bagdhadi and the criminals who have followed him.”

Britain

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Twitter: “The death of Baghdadi is an important moment in our fight against terror but the battle against the evil of Daesh (ISIS) is not yet over. We will work with our coalition partners to bring an end to the murderous, barbaric activities of Daesh once and for all.”

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, also said on Twitter: “Following the death of Daesh’s leader, (ISIS) we must not allow Daesh to glorify someone who actioned such inhumane & abhorrent criminal acts. The UK will continue to support efforts to #DefeatDaesh.”

Iran

Information Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said on Twitter: “Not a big deal, You just killed your creature”, in an accusation to the United States, its longtime foe, of creating ISIS.

Turkey

Senior aide to President Tayyip Erdogan, Fahrettin Altun, in statement to Reuters said that “Turkey was proud to help the United States, our NATO ally, bring a notorious terrorist to justice … We remember today Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s civilian victims and our military heroes, who lost their lives to protect the world from Daesh (ISIS) terrorists.”

“Turkey, which has been a bulwark against terrorism, will continue to work closely with the United States and others to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. It is time to join forces and defeat all terrorist groups operating in the region without further delay.”

Israel

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu office read: “I would like to congratulate President Trump on the impressive achievement that led to the assassination of the head of (ISIS) al-Baghdadi. This reflects our shared determination, of the United States of America and of all free countries, to fight terror organizations and terrorist states. This achievement is an important milestone, but the campaign is still ahead of us.”

Trump said that he was chased by Dogs till the end of the tunnel, and he ignited his vest, by eventually killing himself and his three children.

His body was mutilated by the blasts and the tunnel caved on him, Trump added.

“The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, panic and dread, terrified of the American forces coming down on him,” the US President said in a televised address to the nation from the White House.

President @realDonaldTrump just delivered a major announcement: the world's #1 terrorist leader has been brought to justice. pic.twitter.com/LE1pt01qaB

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 27, 2019

Meanwhile, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said that the operation was successful after Kurd intelligence pinpointed Al-Baghdadi’s location. Iraq also claims to have given his location.

“After constant monitoring and the formation of a specialised task force over an entire year, the Iraqi National Intelligence Service acting on accurate information was able to locate the den in which the head of Daesh terrorists Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and those with him were hiding in the Syrian province of Idlib,” the Iraqi military said.

Iraqi state television published a video claiming to be the blast site. The site was full of rubble and clothes strewn around a huge crater.

Iraqi state television has posted another video claimed to be the blast site, and shows rubble and clothes strewn around a huge crater.https://t.co/k0CZqlUbtA pic.twitter.com/vYj4LKeCEA

— Arab News (@arabnews) October 27, 2019

Trump was criticized recently by the Democrats for possibly helping ISIS regain power in the region after he had decided to pull-off the US forces from Syria. However, Trump had first negated the claim with a mysterious Tweet “Something very big has just happened!” before announcing the death of Al-Baghdadi.

Turkish intelligence also claimed their part in the accomplishment.

Turkish Defense Minstry said, “Prior to the US Operation in Idlib Province of Syria last night, information exchange and coordination between the military authorities of both countries took place.”

Ali Bakr, an expert on Islamist movements, told media that it was interesting Baghdadi was hiding next to the Turkish border, especially with the history between Turkey and Daesh.

On the Scene

A War Monitor agency said that US helicopters dropped forces in an area of Syria’s Idlib province where groups linked to ISIS were present.

The helicopters targeted a home and a car outside the village of Barisha in Idlib province. The operation killed nine people including ISIS senior leader Abu Yamaan along with a child and two women.

An AFP correspondent outside Barisha saw a minibus scorched to cinders by the side of the road, and windows shattered in a neighbor’s house.

A resident of the area who called himself Abdul Hameed said that he rushed to the spot of the attack after he heard helicopters, gunfire and strikes in the night.

“The home had collapsed and next to it there was a destroyed tent and vehicle. There were two people killed inside” the car, he said.

Al-Baghdadi led ISIS for the last five years with the so-called Islamic Caliphate famous for beheadings and the gory acts. US announced $25 million as bounty on his head.

He gained fame after a Friday sermon was released online where he was shown wearing absolute black-attire similar to that of Iranian Mullah regime.

Gradually, ISIS spread its tentacles across the middle-East by carrying out suicide missions targeting Saudi Arabia, one of their most heinous attacks was on the Prophet’s mosque in Madina in July 2016.