Looting of Civilian Property
Of the more than 30 people Human Rights Watch interviewed, 24 said they witnessed widespread looting or the results of looting in villages around Amerli. According to their accounts, militias went through neighborhoods and looted most of the houses and public buildings in each village.
Human Rights Watch interviewed several Peshmerga commanders and fighters who were part of the joint operations against ISIS in villages in the Suleiman Bek sub-district. They described how militias routinely went through civilian homes, looking for valuables as they entered each village.[23] One said:
When we controlled the village the militias came and looted and burned the houses. They were fighting for sectarian reasons…. We did our best to protect 70 percent of the houses in the areas where we have a force, but there was little we could do.[24]
A senior Sunni sheikh who travelled through some of the villages with local officials after the September 1 liberation of Amerli described the village of Maftoul Kabira, ten kilometers from Amerli, after militiamen had taken control. He told Human Rights Watch that some of the damage he saw appeared to have been caused by air strikes and fighting with ISIS while ISIS controlled the area, but that militias caused most of the destruction he saw:
ISIS burned and destroyed my house, the police chief’s house and my nephew’s house. [But] most of the destruction occurred after the militias entered. They arrived 10 days after the liberation of Amerli. When I went back recently, nearly all the houses were burned and all were looted. Many collapsed in on themselves because of the fires… I saw more than 18 villages that were destroyed and looted of their contents.[25]
In addition to militia looting of homes, witnesses told Human Rights Watch that militias had also damaged and looted several public buildings such as schools and mosques. A teacher from a school in Laqum described to Human Rights Watch how he saw militiamen looting a local school:
The school had seven trailers [that made up classrooms and an office]. [Militiamen] loaded them on top of trucks and took them towards Amerli. They only left the student desks scattered around. They burned parts of the school. [26]
He also said that the militia destroyed over 10,000,000 Iraqi dinar [US $8,700] worth of animal feed that he used on his farm.[27]
S.J., a business owner, told Human Rights Watch that, in addition to destroying houses and taking furniture, militiamen entered the Albu Ghenam village, approximately 20 kilometers from Amerli, on September 15 and took whatever possessions families left behind, including livestock that families had left on their farms.[28]
On October 17, 2014, Human Rights Watch visited the village of Khazer Darli and saw homes and shops that, according to local Peshmerga officers, the Saraya Tala’a al-Khorasani militia, which had taken control in mid-September, completely emptied.[29] On the outside of emptied shops and houses, the militia had spray-painted its name, Shia slogans, and phrases such as “on our way to liberate Amerli.”