More than 1,000 Islamic State fighters who promised to be martyrs for the Caliphate have surrendered without a fight after Iraqi forces drove ISIS from the northern city of Hawija late last week, The New York Times reported.
Kurdish authorities expect hundreds more to surrender. Hawija, where ISIS once brutally murdered Kurdish prisoners, fell in three days, and ISIS fighters didn’t put up much of a fight other than planting bombs and booby traps before fleeing with their families, signaling deflated military operations. The battle to remove ISIS from Mosul lasted nine months and ended in July. Tal Afar fell from an ISIS stronghold in 11 days.
ISIS is now in control only of Qaim, which sits on the border with Syria, and substantial territory across the Euphrates River valley.
Senior militant leaders had approached Iraqi military trying to negotiate deals for themselves before they surrendered.
“We tell them no way, no negotiations, turn yourselves in and we’ll turn you over to the court, which will decide,” said Capt. Ali Muhammad Syan, who leads the screening of ISIS fighters in the northern Iraqi city of Dibis.
“It’s really a big mystery for me, though,” he said. “Hawija held the toughest ISIS fighters, and I never believed they would surrender in this way. It’s really weird.”
Many of the ISIS fighters who surrendered claimed to have been cooks or clerks. Some said they left because they were told to surrender, while others said they weren’t paid or not treated to a luxurious lifestyle as they had been promised.
