Hope is a commodity that is in very short supply for the residents of the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, who have been living under Daesh for almost three years. And while it might be that the battle to liberate the city from its evil occupiers will bring dark moments, freedom is coming, relief will follow, and there is reason to hope once more for better days.
Right now, the city is under attack from a coalition of international air forces in the sky, Iraqi regular forces, Iranian-backed militias and Peshmerga forces, all coordinating their assault on Tal Afar to rid it of an estimated 2,000 Daesh fighters. While a similar coalition of forces worked together for months to free Mosul from the terrorists’ grip, the allied troops were also laying the groundwork for their assault on Tal Afar.
Ever since Daesh swept through eastern Syria and across a broad swath of Iraq three years ago in their nihilistic, maniacal and twisted pursuit of a medieval caliphate, they have proved to be adept at holding onto any territory they take. Despite the array of firepower and international coordination brought to arms against them, Daesh fighters rarely retreat, they fight viciously and have but callous regard for the civilians caught in the middle. It is this lowest view of human life that has drained hope from the citizens of Tal Afar. Those who have fled the city before the assault tell horrific stories of everyday life under Daesh, where summary execution and the harshest arbitrary punishments were doled out to anyone and all who failed to follow the letter of their commands. To eat and feed families, men had to work for the evil occupiers who believe that their narrow, perverted and twisted ideology of misery, mayhem and murder represents Islam. That, could not be further from the truth. To escape, families risked death — and some of the fortunate ones managed to flee the city.
Yes, the coming days will be difficult for the civilians left behind in the city, those too fearful to escape, too weak to try it, too subdued to dare think of anything other than surviving. Daesh will use any and every means to hold out — but they will be defeated. It’s slow and deadly work — and even then, when liberation comes, there is the fear too that sectarian militias will exact their revenge on those who survive. Let’s hope too that doesn’t occur.
