Arab League denounces ISIS attacks as “crimes against humanity”

Arab League Chief Nabil al-Arabi denounced Monday the “crimes against humanity” committed by ISIS militants in Iraq against the minority Yazidi sect, demanding the perpetrators be brought to justice, Agence France-Presse reported.

Al-Arabi “strongly denounced the crimes, killings, dispossession carried out by the terrorist (ISIS) against civilians and minorities in Iraq that have affected Christians in Mosul and Yazidis,” he said in a statement.

Referring to reports of hundreds of Yazidis killed in the ISIS onslaught, al-Arabi said “these terrorist crimes amount to crimes against humanity that cannot be overlooked.”

“The perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to international justice,” the statement added.

Evacuation options

The statement came after the United States said it was exploring options to evacuate thousands of Iraqi civilians trapped on a barren mountain in northern Iraq by militants, after four nights of humanitarian relief airdrops.

“We’re reviewing options for removing the remaining civilians off the mountain,” deputy U.S. national security adviser Ben Rhodes said.

“Kurdish forces are helping, and we’re talking to the [United Nations] and other international partners about how to bring them to a safe space,” he added.

The U.N. mission in Iraq has also said it is preparing a humanitarian corridor to permit the Yazidis to flee to safety.

The group follows of an ancient religion derived from Zoroastrianism. They are viewed as “devil worshippers” by the Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who have reportedly told them to convert to Islam or face death.

More than 30,000 Yazidis, mainly from Sinjar, have already crossed into an area of northern Iraq controlled by Kurdish security forces after a week-long journey that took them through Syria after they left the mountain area, according to Yazidis and U.N. officials.

[With AFP and Reuters]