Decisive Victory against Daesh Made Trying Its Elements Possible: Ayatollah Sistani
He made the remark during a meeting in his office in Najaf on Monday with Christian Ritscher, assistant secretary general of the United Nations and head of the investigative team known as UNITAD, established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2379 (2017), to promote accountability efforts for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by Daesh.
Ayatollah Sistani highlighted the great victory of the Iraqis against Daesh and praised the self-sacrifices made by the people of the country that led to the great accomplishment.
He said without that decisive triumph, it would not be possible to go after the terrorist elements and try and punish them for the crimes they have committed
The top cleric underlined the need for upholding justice and fairness in all of the measures that are taken in this regard.
He further called for efforts to secure the release of the Turkmen and Izadi women who are still in Daesh captivity in Syria.
Ayatollah Sistani also wished Ritscher and his team success in their mission.
Ritscher, for his part, briefed the senior cleric about the measures taken by UNITAD so far.
He also said that since its establishment in 2017, the investigative team has benefited from Ayatollah Sistani’s audiences.
Daesh terrorists made swift advances in northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing swaths of northern Syria.
Afterwards, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer forces, who rushed to take arms after Ayatollah Sistani issued a fatwa calling for the fight against the militants, blunted the edge of Daesh offensive and forced the terrorist group withdraw from much of the areas it had occupied.
In November 2017, Iraqi military forces captured the border town of Rawa, the last remaining town under Daesh control, marking the collapse of the terror group’s self-proclaimed caliphate.
4108180
