ISIL Aims to Tear Iraq Apart, warns UN

In one instance cited by Mr. Mladenov, the “growing brutality” of the group was illustrated by the massacre of 322 members of the Albu Nimr tribe. Other well-documented cases of similar crimes report the summary executions of captured prisoners and members of the Yazidi tribe as well as the enslavement of young women and girls.

In addition, ISIL’s military efficiency has seen it gain large swathes of Iraqi territory, capturing major cities such as Fallujah, and reaching the outskirts of the capital of Baghdad, while posing an increasingly dangerous threat to the integrity of the Iraqi State.

In his address, however, the UN envoy told the Council that the crisis in Iraq was not down to the ISIL threat alone, pointing to a “turbulent” recent history of unresolved political, social and economic problems tied to the country’s “difficult transition to democracy, the lack of agreement on the full implementation of the Constitution, stalled reforms, sectarian differences, and the country’s exposure to the broad regional and global rifts.”

“As the crisis unfolded, Iraq almost collapsed,” Mr. Mladenov explained. “Its western provinces were overrun by ISIL, the Kurdistan Region openly spoke of seceding, the southern Governorates struggle with poverty while producing the country’s riches, Baghdad was threatened by a daily barrage of suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices and Iraq’s minorities have been subjected to unspeakable horrors.”

Nevertheless, Mr. Mladenov applauded the Iraqi Government’s efforts to improve its cooperation with local tribes and regional governments in fighting the ISIL onslaught, noting that recent territorial gains against the militants showed that the strategy was “bearing fruit.” Along with UN support and help from the international community targeting peace and security, development, and humanitarian efforts, he added, Iraq could soon embark on a road towards political stability, and dialogue and cooperation on a range of issues including the enactment of oil and gas revenue sharing laws.