By: TII team
Date: January 15, 2025
German police. Photo: DPA
BERLIN,— German prosecutors have charged a Syrian man, identified as Osama A., with war crimes allegedly committed as a member of the Islamic State (IS) militant group during the Syrian civil war. The charges include membership in a foreign terrorist organization and complicity in genocide, particularly against the Yazidis.
Authorities allege that Osama A. joined IS by mid-2014, rising to a senior position within the group’s security forces in Deir Ezzor, a region in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border.
Prosecutors say he played a central role in IS operations to seize and repurpose properties, including buildings used to imprison and sexually exploit women and girls from the Yazidi minority.
The Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking religious group, were singled out for persecution by IS, which deemed their faith heretical. The militants massacred thousands of Yazidi men and abducted women and children, subjecting many to slavery and sexual violence.
Prosecutors also accuse Osama A. of recruiting his 13-year-old nephew to join IS, who later participated in armed conflict in the northern city of Aleppo. Other seized properties, allegedly facilitated by Osama A., were converted into living quarters for IS fighters and used as bases for the group’s operations.
Germany, employing the principle of universal jurisdiction, has taken a leading role in prosecuting war crimes and atrocities committed during the Syrian civil war.
The doctrine allows for the prosecution of severe international crimes regardless of where they occurred. German authorities have previously vowed to hold accountable those fleeing from President Bashar al-Assad’s government or the IS caliphate.
Iraqi Yazidis near the Syrian border after Islamic State attacks on Sinjar, Iraq,
August 10, 2014. Photo: Reuters
IS claimed vast territories across Syria and Iraq in 2014, declaring them part of a so-called caliphate. Though U.S.-backed Kurdish forces dismantled this proto-state in 2019, the group continues to operate in Syria’s expansive desert regions.
The Yazidis suffered one of IS’s most notorious atrocities in August 2014, when Islamist militants attacked the Sinjar district in Iraq. This occurred after the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, under the command of then-Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani’s KDP militia, withdrew from the area without resistance, leaving Yazidi civilians vulnerable to IS attacks.
Following this withdrawal, thousands of Yazidis were trapped on Mount Sinjar, where they faced extreme hunger and dehydration.
An estimated 3,000 Yazidis were killed over several days, and 6,800 others were abducted, according to official estimates. Women and girls were enslaved, raped, and trafficked across the region.
While thousands of Yazidis have been rescued in recent years, an estimated 3,000 remain missing. The international community continues to call for justice and the prosecution of those responsible for crimes against humanity.
(Credit: AFP | Agencies)
Copyright © 2025 The Insight International. All rights reserved
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IS claimed vast territories across Syria and Iraq in 2014, declaring them part of a so-called caliphate. Though U.S.-backed Kurdish forces dismantled this proto-state in 2019, the group continues to operate in Syria’s expansive desert regions.
The Yazidis suffered one of IS’s most notorious atrocities in August 2014, when Islamist militants attacked the Sinjar district in Iraq. This occurred after the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, under the command of then-Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani’s KDP militia, withdrew from the area without resistance, leaving Yazidi civilians vulnerable to IS attacks.
Following this withdrawal, thousands of Yazidis were trapped on Mount Sinjar, where they faced extreme hunger and dehydration.
An estimated 3,000 Yazidis were killed over several days, and 6,800 others were abducted, according to official estimates. Women and girls were enslaved, raped, and trafficked across the region.
While thousands of Yazidis have been rescued in recent years, an estimated 3,000 remain missing. The international community continues to call for justice and the prosecution of those responsible for crimes against humanity.
(Credit: AFP | Agencies)
Copyright © 2025 The Insight International. All rights reserved
Related posts:
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