Public executions and mass graves: ISIS targets Sunni tribe in Iraq

 Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- They were taken from their homes, some pulled from their beds, in the middle of the night.

They were fathers, brothers and sons, members of the U.S.-allied Albu Nimr tribe -- the Sunni clan considered among the last holdouts against ISIS in Iraq's western desert.

About 50 members of the tribe were abducted in Hit in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, during the early morning hours on Saturday, Sheikh Nabil Al-Ga'oud, a tribal leader, told CNN.

Their fate is unknown. But Al-Ga'oud and others believe they are likely dead, the latest casualties of ISIS who have killed hundreds of members of the tribe in mass executions in recent days.
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The Albu Nimr, who number in the tens of thousands, are ready to fight to take back Hit, Al-Ga'oud said. The city was seized last month by ISIS fighters after weeks of fighting the tribesmen.

Hit and neighboring Ramadi were holdouts in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province after ISIS swept in from Syria, taking town after town in the western province. Albu Nimr tribesmen were among those who fought them until they began running of out weapons and supplies.

Tribal leader says fighters ready to strike ISIS

Albu Nimr has a strong force ready to attack Hit, but they need to get the final OKs from the government and also try to coordinate with the Americans, Al-Ga'oud said.

Anbar was the scene of a bloody insurgency during the U.S.-led war in Iraq until an uprising by Sunni tribes, including Albu Nimr, in 2006 took on al Qaeda in Iraq -- the forerunner to ISIS, also known as ISIL.

U.S. officials maintain that Iraqi support for Sunni tribes going on the offensive against ISIS will be a necessary part in the effort to defeat the militants, who refer to themselves as the Islamic State.

In a news conference this week, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, signaled the possibility of the new role when he said the Iraqi government had not yet requested U.S. military support in efforts to defend a Sunni tribe that has suffered mass executions at the hands of ISIS militants.

"That's why we need to expand the train-advise-and-assist mission into the ... Anbar Province," Dempsey said. "But the precondition for that is that the government of Iraq is willing to arm the tribes."

Dempsey said the United States had "positive indications" the Iraqi government was prepared to do that but had not yet acted.

There is no indication from Pentagon officials on when such a mission could begin.

Public executions, mass graves

The abduction and suspected killings follow reports this week of public executions and the discovery of mass graves containing the bodies of tribesmen killed by ISIS.

The bodies of an estimated 200 members of Albu Nimr were found in a mass grave just outside Hit, a senior Iraqi security official told CNN. The tribesmen were captured by ISIS fighters after it took control of the area, the official said.

Another 48 tribesmen were marched through the streets of Hit before they were publicly executed, the official said.

And a mass grave was found in nearby Ramadi, according to Iraqi media accounts. Video of those executions had been uploaded to the Internet.

"We are deeply concerned by reports of mass executions of Sunni tribesmen in Anbar province by ISIL and strongly condemn the brutal actions that ISIL continues to perpetrate against the Iraqi people," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

"...ISIL's indiscriminate crimes prove, yet again, that it is targeting all Iraqis, regardless of faith or region."

Albu Nimr fights back

Albu Nimr is known for its fighting skill and resistance.

A 2003 Brookings Institution report observed that, though most Iraqi Sunni tribes were loyal to Saddam Hussein in the days when he ran the country, the Albu Nimr tribe had mounted a protest against the former Iraqi strongman in 1995 after the execution of a noted member. The protest was put down by paramilitary forces loyal to Saddam.

In general, however, Saddam respected the Albu Nimr.

Since Saddam's fall, they've been tapped to oppose al Qaeda in Iraq. They were also part of last year's Sunni uprising against the former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Shiite-dominated government.

They have been fighting ISIS but say they haven't received much support from the Iraqi government and international coalition members.

CNN's Odai Sadik reported from Baghdad, and Chelsea J. Carter and Todd Leopold reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Hamdi Alkhshali and Jim Sciutto contributed to this report. 

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Karzai accuses U.S. of cutting Afghan military supplies

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during a joint press conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013. Sharif said Saturday that the recent release of a senior Taliban leader shows he is committed to helping bring peace to Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

By Hamid Shalizi

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused his U.S. ally on Sunday of withholding military supplies to press him to sign a bilateral security deal that will shape the U.S. military presence after most foreign troops leave in 2014.
Washington, which swiftly denied the assertion, has said that unless the pact is signed promptly, it could pull out most of its troops, as it did in Iraq two years ago.
"The cutting of fuel supplies and support services to the Afghan army and police is being used as a means of pressure to ensure Afghanistan ... signs the Bilateral Security Agreement," a statement from Karzai's palace said.
Karzai said last week he might refuse to sign the deal until after Afghanistan's presidential election in April 2014.
U.S. officials said logistical problems in Pakistan might have given rise to the alleged delays in deliveries.
"There has been no stoppage in the delivery of requested fuel and we continue to process all orders as soon as they are received," the NATO-led force in Afghanistan said in a statement.
Karzai's relationship with the United States has worsened since he invited thousands of elders to vote on the security deal last week and then ignored their advice, which was to sign it promptly.
Even after the pact's terms were settled after about a year of wrangling, Karzai has since added conditions that include the release of all Afghan prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and an end to military operations involving Afghan homes.
On Thursday Karzai denounced his Western allies for bombing an Afghan home and killing a child, an accusation the NATO-led force has promised to investigate.
If the bilateral pact is not signed, Western aid running to billions of dollars will be in jeopardy and confidence in the fragile economy could collapse amid fears that Afghanistan will slip back into ethnic fighting or civil war.
Diplomats said Karzai may have overplayed his hand, raising the risk of a complete U.S. withdrawal from a country where Western troops have fought Taliban militants for the past 12 years. Karzai's domestic critics say he is playing a dangerous game with Afghanistan's future security.
The decade-long security deal would mandate the size and shape of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan once the NATO combat mission ends next year. Without it, the United States would be unable to keep troops in Afghanistan, and most other nations would be likely to withdraw theirs too.
Afghanistan faces a potent Taliban insurgency and is still training its own military.

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Chemical watchdog says US to destroy Syria stockpile at sea

The Hague (AFP) - The United States will destroy the most dangerous of Syria's chemical weapon stockpile on a ship at sea, the world's chemical watchdog said on Saturday.

"The neutralisation operations will be conducted on a US vessel at sea using hydrolysis," the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a statement.
"Currently a suitable naval vessel is undergoing modifications to support the operations and to accommodate verification activities by the OPCW," The Hague-based watchdog added.
The ship operation will destroy what is known as "priority chemical weapons", the most dangerous of Syria's total arsenal and ones that have to be out of the country by December 31 under an international deal agreed to avert military strikes on Damascus.
OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan on Saturday declined to name the navy vessel to be used.
OPCW member states have been thrashing out the details of how to destroy Damascus's arsenal ahead of the watchdog's annual meeting set to start on Monday.
A final plan for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons -- on land or at sea -- is due to be approved by December 17.
Sigrid Kaag, the top UN official from the joint UN-OPCW mission, confirmed the use of a US ship to render Syria's most dangerous chemical weapons unusable through a dilution process known as hydrolysis, and said the resulting byproducts would be destroyed by commercial companies.

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"The chemical effluents, what is left when destroyed, will be treated in countries through a number of companies," she told reporters in Damascus.
The US vessel "will not be in Syrian territorial waters," she added.
The OPCW earlier this month adopted a final roadmap for ridding Syria of its arsenal of more than 1,000 tonnes of dangerous chemicals by mid-2014.
According to this roadmap, the "priority" weapons have to be removed from Syria by December 31 and destroyed by April 2014 and the rest by mid-2014.
The OPCW said on Saturday that 35 commercial companies have expressed an interest in destroying the lower priority, less dangerous weapons.
The watchdog's director-general Ahmet Uzumcu said the various companies will now undergo evaluation before a suitable candidate is found.
"The companies bidding for participation in the disposal process will be required to comply with all applicable international and national regulations pertaining to safety and the environment," Uzumcu added.
Chemical weapons experts in the past have expressed concern over the incineration of chemical weapons at sea due to the risk of toxins that may land up in the water.
Despite international consensus on destroying the chemicals outside war-wracked Syria, no country had volunteered to have them destroyed on its soil.
Syria is cooperating with the disarmament and has already said it had 1,290 tonnes of chemical weapons and precursors, or ingredients, as well as over 1,000 unfilled chemical munitions, such as shells, rockets or mortars.
A team of UN-OPCW inspectors has been on the ground since October checking Syria's weapons and facilities.
The destruction of declared chemical weapons production facilities was completed last month and all chemicals and precursors placed under seal, the OPCW said last month ahead of a November 1 deadline backed by a UN Security Council resolution.
Some chemical weapons are destroyed through a process called hydrolysis, in which agents, like detergents, are used to neutralise chemicals such as mustard gas and sulphur, resulting in liquid waste known as effluent.
Nerve gases such as sarin are often better destroyed through incineration.
The OPCW has before requested that 798 tonnes of chemicals needed to be disposed of, as well as 7.7 million litres of effluent.

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