Iraq’s Martyrs Foundation rejects claims Al-Anbar graves linked to ISIS
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq’s Martyrs Foundation on Monday dismissed claims that recently discovered mass graves in Al-Anbar province date back to the ISIS era, describing such assertions as an attempt to “falsify history” and absolve the former Baathist regime of responsibility.
In a statement, the foundation said specialized teams from the Mass Graves and Missing Persons Protection Department and the Forensic Medicine Directorate, in cooperation with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), had begun excavation work at seven mass graves in the Al-Anbar desert.
The sites contain the remains of victims killed by the former regime during the 1980s, according to the foundation.
It further condemned what it described as “systematic and desperate attempts” by supporters of the former regime to mislead Iraqi society and public opinion by falsely claiming that the remains date to the post-2014 period.
“All evidence and forensic findings collected from the site conclusively prove the brutality of the crimes committed by the criminal Baathist regime against those innocent victims during the 1980s,” the statement read.
The issue has triggered growing controversy in Al-Anbar, where activists, journalists, and civil figures questioned official claims that the graves date back to the Baath era, urging transparent forensic investigations and independent scrutiny. Doubts intensified after images and personal belongings recovered from the sites circulated online, with local observers arguing that some materials did not appear to correspond to the 1980s or 1990s, raising speculation that the burial sites could be linked to more recent periods of violence after 2003, following the collapse of the Al-Baath regime after the US invasion.
Civil activist Wissam Malik described the mass graves issue in Al-Anbar as “one of the most painful humanitarian issues” in Iraq, warning against politicization or unverified narratives and calling for clear identification of the victims.
The disagreements come amid broader concerns over unresolved disappearances in Iraq, where more than 26,000 people remain missing, many allegedly abducted by armed groups during the war against ISIS (between 2014 and 2017) in northern and western provinces. Iraqi forensic authorities recently revealed preparations for 13,000 graves intended for identified remains recovered from mass grave sites across the country, while the Medico-Legal Directorate is currently holding around 13,000 sets of remains pending DNA matching before they can be returned to families.
