It is the battle for Mosul and ISIS using innocent men, women, and children as human shield to fend off the Iraqi army’s offensive. This reminds me of the actions of another criminal occupying force: the Azerbaijani government. During the liberation of Khojaly, the Azeris used the people who were brought there previously from Uzbekistan as human shield to hold on to their positions.
The year was 1992, and the Azeri occupiers were attacking Stepanakert [the capital of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Republic] and its airport regularly, making it difficult for the food and medical supplies to arrive in the city. Their goal was to starve Stepanakert’s occupants so they would be forced to leave the city. The self-defense army of the Karabakh Republic made a decision to liberate Khojaly and stop the attacks. It took the Karabakh self-defense army just two days to liberate Khojaly, yet the losing Azeri side resorted to the most horrifying tactic of wartime, using the human shield. Despite the fact that the Karabakh self-defense army created a corridor for civilians to leave, the Azeri forces blocked their way by continuing to engage in intense battle.
Even the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov confessed in 1992, “the Armenians left the corridor, with the help of which people could escape,”
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