Kubiš Briefs Security Council: So-Called Daesh Caliphate is Crumbling, A New Iraq is Born

While highlighting the hardship the people are enduring in this battle, Mr. Kubiš struck an optimistic note about the future of post-Daesh Iraq. He pointed to unprecedented cooperation between Baghdad and Erbil in the fight against Daesh as well as emerging national reconciliation efforts in the post-liberation period that could herald the birth of a new Iraq.

The SRSG said the fight against the terrorists is a fight of all Iraqis for their country’s future, and also a fight on behalf of the rest of the world in defense of human values and against the terrorism and intolerance that Daesh embodies. He congratulated the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), Peshmerga, the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and allied tribal and local volunteers, paying tribute to the martyrs who made the ultimate sacrifice for a free Iraq.

“This liberation operation marks the beginning of the end of the so-called Daesh caliphate in Iraq,” Mr. Kubiš told the Security Council in his briefing. “Increased support of the civilian population for this and previous liberation operations speaks best about the fact that the liberation of Iraq is a fight of all Iraqis in their unity for the future of their country as the common house of all Iraqi people living together in justice, equality, peace and tolerance. We witness the birth of a new Iraq.”

The Iraqis have endured so much under Daesh, and the SRSG expressed solidarity with the women and children victims of Daesh’s atrocities and human rights abuses. “Women and children are the first victims of Daesh crimes and we insist on full accountability for the human rights abuses and atrocities perpetrated by Daesh against civilians, call for justice for all the victims of these heinous crimes that might amount to crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide,” Mr. Kubiš said.

The SRSG highlighted the deeply worrying reports of Daesh forcing tens of thousands of women, children and men from their homes around Mosul and forcibly relocating civilians in the city itself, effectively using them as human shields.

Mr. Kubiš said that based on lessons learned from the past the Government of Iraq and the leadership of the Iraqi Security Forces and PMF prioritised the protection of civilians in an unprecedented way in the planning and conduct of the current military operations.

The SRSG stressed that reconciliation at both community and national levels is the way to make military victories against Daesh sustainable and to make Iraq truly peaceful and united.

“Recapturing territory and power is not enough; it is necessary to capture the hearts and minds of all Iraqis from all parts of the country, to facilitate the return of IDPs to their towns and villages that need to be cleared of unexploded remnants of war and rehabilitated, to demobilise different volunteer groups that helped defeat Daesh, to give perspective for the increasingly young population, to carry out political, economic and social reforms, to establish law and order, and to curb the activities of criminal groups, corruption and patronage,” Mr. Kubiš said.

He stressed that it is imperative that leaders of all components, communities and groups, including civil society and women, address numerous grievances of the past periods and find the way to live together after Daesh in justice and equality for all.

The SRSG referred to the plan by the Iraqi National Alliance’s Chairman, Sayed Ammar al Hakim, to submit “an important document for national compromise that considers an important political project to be implemented in conjunction with the liberation of Mosul to unify all Iraqis”. Al Hakim called for “the building of a country of coexistence, where all Iraqis feel compelled to the unity of their lands, peoples and democracy,” Mr. Kubiš said.

Turning to the stabilization of areas retaken from Daesh, Mr. Kubiš stated that stabilizing the city of Mosul following liberation “will be a daunting task.”

The SRSG said that UNDP’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilization is coordinating with UNMAS to conduct rapid Threat Impact Assessments in key neighbourhoods and expedite clearance of IEDs in the liberated areas. He said the mine action community will require US$112 million in 2017 depending on the rate of areas retaken, and this is almost entirely unfunded.