Donald Trump has made major changes to the US military presence in the Middle East since stepping in the White House two months ago, and could soon increase the US war footprint even more, MEE analysis of data shows.
March, the second month of Trump’s presidency, was the deadliest for civilians in Iraq since 2014, when a US-led coalition began a campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Trump is also planning on increasing the number of US troops in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, while stepping up the number of air strikes in Yemen.
Comment:
As promised, President Trump, during his first three months in office, has increased and accelerated military attacks upon Iraq and Syria, and the numbers of civilians killed by the US led coalition (US, UK, France, Belgium, Denmark and Australia) have skyrocketed as a result. According to MEE analysis, the US lead coalition have dropped on Iraq and Syria 3,606 bombs in January 2017 with an increase to 3,878 in March. That’s 128 bombs per day at any given time in both countries!
Consequently, these increased attacks have resulted in increased civilian deaths. Just in the months of February and March, 1,286 innocent Muslim civilians have been killed.
Yet, somehow the world is meant to believe that the killing of innocent children with sarin gas by the Assad regime in Khan Shiekhoun can have a “big impact” on Trump. Yet, the killing of innocent civilians in Iraq and Syria by US bombs clearly bears no such sorrow. We recall how Trump went so far as to say in December 2016 that, “When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families.”
Families like Wa’ad Ahmad al-Tai, a resident of the al-Zahra neighbourhood of East Mosul, was among many civilians who followed Iraqi government advice to stay put.
“We followed the instructions of the government who told us stay in our homes and avoid displacement. According to the instructions, residents who had nothing to do with Daesh [ISIS, in Arabic] should stay in their homes… We heard these instructions on the radio… Also leaflets were dropped by planes. This is why we stayed in our homes,” he said. As the fighting intensified, Wa’ad Ahmad al-Tai, his brother Mahmoud and their families sought shelter at their other brother’s two-storey home hoping it would offer them more protection. “We (three families with 18 persons) were all huddled in one room at the back of the house, 18 of us, three families. But when the house next door was bombed, it collapsed on us, precisely over the room we were sheltering in. My son Yusef, nine, and my daughter Shahad, three, were killed, together with my brother Mahmoud, his wife Manaya and their nine-year-old son Aws, and my niece Hanan. She was cradling her five-month-old daughter, who survived, thank God,” he said.
These are the attacks upon civilians living in Mosul who have become victims of Trump’s counterterrorism policy that accepts “lowering the threshold” on what the US considers as “acceptable civilian casualties” due to more bombs being dropped in dense urban environments like Mosul and Raqqa.
Furthermore, the US military will apply this counter-terror policy not only to Iraq and Syria but to anywhere in the world including countries like Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia and Libya. Consequently, the Muslim world will witness the increased wanton killing of innocent Muslim men, women and children with President Trump now in power.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said whilst doing tawwaf around the Ka’aba:
«مَا أَطْيَبَكِ وَأَطْيَبَ رِيحَكِ، مَا أَعْظَمَكِ وَأَعْظَمَ حُرْمَتَكِ، وَالَّذِي نَفْسُ مُحَمَّدٍ بِيَدِهِ، لَحُرْمَةُ الْمُؤْمِنِ أَعْظَمُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ حُرْمَةً مِنْكِ، مَالِهِ وَدَمِهِ وَأَنْ نَظُنَّ بِهِ إِلَّا خَيْرًا»
“How sweet are you and how sweet is your scent. How great are you and how great is your sanctity. By the one in Whose Hand is Muhammad’s soul, the sanctity of a believer is greater with Allah than your sanctity.” (Ibn Maja).
The Islamic Ummah continues to suffer day and night as a direct result of the loss of the Khilafah State that was destroyed 96 years ago during this month of Rajab Al-Khair on the 28th, 1342 AH by the Kaffir colonialists. The urgency to re-establish the Khilafah State upon the path of Prophethood that will provide security in replacement of fear and loss of life is the only solution to these endless crimes.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
«إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ، فَإِنْ أَمَرَ بِتَقْوَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَعَدَلَ كَانَ لَهُ بِذَلِكَ أَجْرٌ، وَإِنْ يَأْمُرْ بِغَيْرِهِ كَانَ عَلَيْهِ مِنْهُ»
“A commander (of the Muslims) is a shield for them. They fight behind him and they are protected by (him from tyrants and aggressors). If he enjoins fear of God, the Exalted and Glorious, and dispenses justice, there will be a (great) reward for him; and if he enjoins otherwise, it redounds on him.”
Tsuroyya Amal Yasna