The ISIS ouster from Jurf al-Sakhar, just south of Baghdad, was much less of the “liberation” that officials presented it as and rather another sectarian conquest, with the Shi’ite militias pushing into the overwhelmingly Sunni town.
We’ve heard that story a few times already, and what came next should surprise nobody, as militias captured putative ISIS members and carried out summary executions in broad daylight.
“These dogs are Chechens. They don’t deserve to stay alive,” noted one of the militia leaders. “We took confessions from them and we don’t need them anymore.”
The sectarian underpinnings of the ISIS war have loomed large over the battles for many towns, with Sunni locals not necessarily “pro-ISIS,” but seeing remaining under their rule as far safer than being returned to the Iraqi fold, and rule by militia.
