MOSUL, Iraq: He would wander the streets of occupied Mosul by day, chatting with shopkeepers and Daesh fighters, visiting friends who worked at the hospital, swapping scraps of information. He grew out his hair and his beard and wore the shortened trousers required by the extremists. He forced himself to witness the beheadings and stonings, so he could hear executioners call out the names of the condemned and their supposed crimes.
By night, anonymously from his darkened room, Mosul Eye told the world what was happening. If caught, he too would be executed.
But after more than three years, his double life has grown too heavy to bear. He misses his name.
His secrets consume him, sap energy he’d rather use for his doctoral dissertation and for helping Mosul rebuild. In conversations with The Associated Press, he agonized over how to end the anonymity that plagues him. He made his decision.
Mosul Eye is Omar Mohammed, historian, scholar, blogger. He is 31.
The revelation of his identity is for his thousands of readers and followers, for all his volunteers in Mosul who have been inspired by a man they have never seen. But above all, it is for the brother who died in the final battle and for his grieving mother.
“I can’t be anonymous anymore. This is to say that I defeated ISIS. You can see me now, and you can know me now,” he told The Associated Press.
Mohammed first posted about the Daesh group under his own Facebook account, in the first few days after its fighters swept into Mosul, but a friend told him he risked being killed. So in those first days he made himself a promise: trust no one, document everything.
A newly minted teacher with a reputation for secular ideas, he had lost his university job.
He found another calling.
“My job as a historian requires an unbiased approach which I am going to adhere to and keep my personal opinion to myself,” he wrote on that first day, June 18, 2014.
Mosul Eye became one of the outside world’s main sources of news about the Daesh fighters, their atrocities and their transformation of the city into a grotesque shadow of itself.
During Friday sermons, Mohammed feigned enthusiasm. He collected propaganda to post online later. He drank tea at the hospital, fishing for information.
Much of what he collected went on the blog. Other details he kept in his computer, for fear of giving away his identity. Someday, he promised, he would write history with them.
The most sensitive details initially came from two old friends: a doctor and a high school dropout who had joined a Daesh intelligence unit.
Mohammed’s information sometimes included photos of the fighters and commanders, complete with biographies surreptitiously pieced together during the course of his normal life — that of an out-of-work scholar living at home.
“I used the two characters, the two personalities to serve each other,” he said. He expanded into a Facebook page and a Twitter feed to parcel out information at a time when little news was escaping.
Intelligence agencies made contact as well and he rebuffed them.
“I am not a spy or a journalist,” he would say. “I tell them this: If you want the information, it’s published and it’s public for free. Take it.”
In March 2015, his catalog of horrors got to him.
“I was super ready to die,” Mohammed said. “I was so tired of worrying about myself, my family, my brothers. I am not alive to worry, but I am alive to live this life. I thought: I am done.”
He cut his hair short, shaved his beard and pulled on a bright red sweater. His closest friend joined him.
They drove to the banks of the Tigris blasting forbidden music. They shared a carafe of tea. Heedless of people picnicking nearby, Mohammed lit a cigarette— banned by Daesh. Somehow, incredibly, he wasn’t caught.
“At that moment I felt like I was given a new life.”
He resumed what he had taken to calling his duty. He grew out his hair and beard, put the shortened trousers back on.
He tested out different voices, Christian, Muslim. Sometimes he indicated he was gone, other times that he was still in the city.
Finally, after leaving Mosul a thousand times in his mind, he decided it was time to get out.
“I think I deserve life, deserve to be alive.”
A smuggler agreed to sneak him out for $1,000. Mohammed left the next day, the contents of his computer transferred overnight to a hard-drive that he packed with him.
No one gave him a second look during the two days and some 500 kilometers it took to reach Turkey.
Once there, Mosul Eye kept at it: via WhatsApp and Viber, from Facebook messages and long conversations with friends and relatives who had contacts within Daesh. From hundreds of kilometers away, his life remained consumed by events back home .
By mid-2016, deaths were piling up faster than he could record. The Daesh group was on a hunt for traitors and the airstrikes were taking an increasing toll on everyone. His records grew haphazard, and he turned to Twitter to document the atrocities. In February 2017, he received asylum in Europe.
Only after his elder brother Ahmed was killed in a mortar strike and Daesh was gone from the city did Mohammed reveal his secret to a younger brother — who greeted the news with a shock of pride and happiness. His sibling spoke on condition of anonymity from his refuge in Iraq because he was fearful for his life.
“People in Mosul had lost hope and confidence in politicians, in everything,” his brother said. Mosul Eye “managed to show that it’s possible to change the situation in the city and bring it back to life.”
Unmasked: Mosul Eye is anonymous historian who leaked Daesh secrets
Unmasked: Mosul Eye is anonymous historian who leaked Daesh secrets
UK humanitarian agency report exposes systematic life-threatening conditions for Palestinians in Gaza
- Findings underscore severe challenges facing Palestinian civilians during Israel’s war with Hamas
LONDON: A report released on Tuesday from Action for Humanity International, one of the UK’s leading humanitarian agencies operating in Gaza, reveals the conditions faced by internally displaced people after Israel’s displacement orders to Palestinian civilians.
The report claims that these orders, along with conditions in designated “humanitarian zones,” are creating life-threatening environments that amount to “systematic erasure.”
The findings underscore the severe challenges facing Palestinian civilians during Israel’s war with Hamas.
According to the survey, 15 percent of respondents were unable to evacuate due to disability or caregiving responsibilities, a reality compounded by the fact that 35 percent of people received less than an hour’s notice of evacuation orders.
The survey also found that 98 percent of respondents had been displaced several times, with nearly a quarter having been displaced 10 or more times in the past year.
In humanitarian zones conditions are reportedly dire.
According to the report, 73 percent of respondents described them as “poor” or “very poor,” with four out of five lacking sufficient access to food, and two-thirds unable to obtain clean drinking water. Additionally, 80 percent of respondents reported no access to adequate medical care.
Charles Lawley, director of communications and advocacy at AFH, criticized the treatment of Gaza’s civilians, saying that, in his view, the situation in Gaza amounted to “erasure in plain sight.”
“This report shows that Gaza is being erased in plain sight,” he said. “The so-called ‘evacuation orders’ — and I hesitate to call them that, as that is the language used by the Israeli military and implies it is doing the people of Gaza a favor by giving them a warning before bombing their homes — inflict terrors, are ambiguous and difficult to comply with, on the occasions they are given.”
Lawley further condemned the conditions in the so-called humanitarian zones.
“The conditions are not fit for humans ... with such damage to infrastructure, the bombing of Gaza, even with so-called evacuation orders, puts people who cannot afford the transport to escape and those with caregiving or physical barriers to escape — such as pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities — at a heightened risk of being killed, as escaping is even more difficult for them.”
In a strong rebuke of the ongoing military action, Lawley argued that the pattern of bombardment, ground incursions, and deprivation of basic resources suggested a coordinated strategy that “aligns with acts of extermination and genocide.”
He further suggested that recent reports indicating Israeli government intentions to annex Gaza raised additional concerns, noting that “these plans ... appear designed to inflict conditions of life aimed at the physical destruction of the group, in whole or in part ... as a strategic tool in broader aims for territorial annexation.”
The full report is available to read here.
Israel’s Netanyahu dismisses defense minister in surprise announcement
- Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds throughout the war in Gaza
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defense minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defense minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defense minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel’s leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the militant group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life’s mission.”
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the Oct. 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday’s announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralizing his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy — our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
Israel demolishes seven Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem
- Activist Fakhri Abu Diab, one of those affected by the demolition, confirmed that “at least seven homes have been demolished, and the operation is ongoing“
- He said that both houses and apartments were affected
JERUSALEM: Municipal workers demolished seven homes in occupied east Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood on Tuesday, Palestinian residents and the municipality said, after an Israeli court called their construction illegal.
“This morning the Jerusalem Municipality, with a security escort from the Israel police, began its enforcement against illegal buildings in the Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan,” Jerusalem’s Israeli-controlled city hall said in a statement.
Activist Fakhri Abu Diab, one of those affected by the demolition, confirmed that “at least seven homes have been demolished, and the operation is ongoing.”
He said that both houses and apartments were affected.
“They demolished my home, which I had renovated after it was previously demolished earlier this year, as well as my son’s house, Haitham Ayed’s family home, and four homes belonging to the Al-Ruwaidi family,” Abu Diab told AFP.
He said around “40 people, including children, were affected by the demolitions in the neighborhood, leaving them homeless.”
An AFP photographer saw at least four bulldozers operating on Tuesday at demolition sites in the neighborhood under tight Israeli police supervision.
In a statement, Jerusalem city hall pointed to court orders that call for the demolition of the buildings due to zoning laws that make them illegal.
However, Palestinian residents and activists accuse the municipality of concealing its true intentions.
“The buildings, like most of the buildings in the neighborhood, are located on an area that is a green designation, that is, an open public area and where there is no possibility for zoning,” the municipality said, adding that the area would become a green zone instead.
Israeli rights group Ir Amim argued that the true aim of the demolitions is to connect Israeli settler pockets implanted in Palestinian areas to west Jerusalem.
The non-profit organization said in a statement that demolition, “encouraged by Israel’s right-wing government,” is expected to affect “115 homes, housing around 1,500 residents” in the neighborhood.
“The demolition of Al-Bustan and the displacement of its residents is an integral part of settlement efforts aimed at Judaising Silwan and transforming the area into a public park, facilitating connections between isolated settler communities in Silwan and linking them with West Jerusalem,” Ir Amim said.
It but did not specify the number of homes affected on Tuesday, as “the demolition is ongoing.”
Abu Diab echoed Ir Amim, saying the true aim of the demolitions was “to reduce the percentage of Arabs and alter the demographic composition of Jerusalem in favor of (Israeli) settlers,” connecting them to west Jerusalem.
Israel “is above international law, has escaped accountability, and is exploiting global focus on the wars in Gaza and Lebanon and the US elections,” he said.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.
Some 230,000 Israeli settlers live in east Jerusalem, according to the United Nations. Another 3,000 live in Palestinian neighborhoods within east Jerusalem’s boundaries, according to Israeli rights organization Peace Now.
King Salman invites Najib Mikati to attend Arab-Islamic summit aimed at halting Israeli aggression
- Residential buildings and vehicles targeted by Israeli airstrikes
- Israeli army claims to have destroyed underground Hezbollah structures in the south
BEIRUT: The caretaker prime minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, received an invitation on Tuesday from King Salman bin Abdulaziz to participate in the extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic summit scheduled for Nov. 11 in Riyadh.
The summit will address Israeli assaults on the Palestinian people and Lebanese territories, coinciding with an increase in Israeli drone strikes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and Bekaa, resulting in further civilian casualties.
Mikati received the invitation from Waleed Bukhari, the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon.
The invitation stated that participation in the summit is a “reaffirmation of Arab and Islamic solidarity in efforts to halt Israeli aggression and to promote the pursuit of a just resolution to the Palestinian issue, ensuring the rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Israel’s ground war in has completed its 44th day, and the toll since Hezbollah opened the southern front 13 months ago exceeds 3,000 dead and more than 13,000 wounded.
As the assaults diminished in the southern suburbs of Beirut, residents had the chance to inspect their homes and retrieve whatever belongings they could. However, the confrontations remained intense in the southern regions, and airstrikes continued in the south and in the Bekaa region.
Two Israeli airstrikes targeted the Jiyeh area, 28 km south of Beirut, killing a woman and wounding seven people — who were taken to Sibline Governmental Hospital.
Airstrikes hit a building near Sheikh Ragheb Harb Hospital in Toul, and a shop in Jwaya. An airstrike on the outskirts of Bazouriyeh caused injuries, while four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the town of Baflieh in the Tyre district.
An elderly woman, Ghadia Al-Suwaid, who had insisted on staying in her home in the border town of Al-Dhayra Al-Fawqa, was suspected to have been kidnapped by Israeli soldiers. The woman’s relatives told the National News Agency that “they entered the town in the morning and did not find her.”
Meanwhile, a Red Cross convoy, in coordination with UNIFIL, headed to Wata Khiam, also on the border, to complete the recovery of 15 bodies from rubble after airstrikes hit their home eight days ago.
The Red Cross retrieved five bodies two days ago, but larger machinery was needed to continue clearing the rubble.
An airstrike on the town of Deir Kifa killed two people and wounded several others.
Israeli military vehicles were seen advancing at the Shebaa Farms toward Al-Sadana heights and Shebaa Gate, where clashes were reported between Israeli forces and Hezbollah members.
On Tuesday morning, Israeli forces tried to infiltrate Rmeish but were forced to retreat after clashes with Hezbollah fighters, while in Haris an unknown motorcyclist was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
In Bekaa, an Israeli drone targeted a car on the road between Hortaala and Talia, carrying a displaced family from Baalbek. The raid killed three siblings, Nathalie, Raed and Mohammed Naji Dandash, and wounded their mother, Iman Fawzat Habib, who was transferred to Dar Al Amal University Hospital.
Hezbollah claimed to have struck “a gathering of Israeli soldiers in Doviv and Ma’ale Golani barracks, and another … in the hills of Kfar Shuba. We bombed an explosives factory in Hadera, south of Haifa, with a salvo of qualitative missiles.”
Israeli army spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, meanwhile, claimed that Israeli forces had destroyed “an underground infrastructure of about 70 meters long and confiscating weapons and rocket launchers in rugged and underground areas in southern Lebanon.”
Lebanon official says Israeli commandos jammed UNIFIL radar in abduction operation
- The initial findings suggest that “the Israeli army used a high-speed vessel equipped with advanced devices capable of jamming radars” belonging to the UNIFIL
- The probe into the abduction operation on Saturday is jointly conducted by the Lebanese police and judiciary
BEIRUT: A preliminary probe found that Israeli commandos used a speedboat equipped with radar-jamming devices to abduct a Lebanese man accused of being a Hezbollah operative, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP Tuesday.
The initial findings suggest that “the Israeli army used a high-speed vessel equipped with advanced devices capable of jamming radars” belonging to the United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) that monitors the Lebanese coast, the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The probe into the abduction operation on Saturday is jointly conducted by the Lebanese police and judiciary.
The UN peacekeeping Maritime Task Force has helped Lebanon’s army monitor territorial waters and prevent the entry of arms or related material by sea since 2006, according to the mission’s website.
Germany has headed UNIFIL’s maritime taskforce since January 2021.
On Saturday, Israeli naval commandos seized a trainee mariner that a military official described as a “senior operative” of Hezbollah in a raid in northern Lebanon and brought him to Israel for questioning.
An acquaintance of the abductee identified him as Imad Amhaz.
The man in his thirties was studying to become a sea captain at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute (MARSATI) in Batroun, Lebanon’s primary training college for the shipping industry.
Lebanese authorities “cannot probe UNIFIL forces or request they provide information or footage captured by their radars because they have immunity,” the judicial official said.
The official called the abduction “a war crime that violated national sovereignty” because it involved the kidnapping of a Lebanese citizen in an area far from the fighting.
Israel escalated its air raids on Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley on September 23, after nearly a year of cross-border fire. A week later it sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.
At least 3,002 people have been killed in Lebanon since clashes between Hezbollah and Israel began last October, the health ministry said, including at least 1,964 since September 23, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
