THE Iraqi Communist Party has hailed Mosul’s liberation from the Isis death cult — but called for social and political transformation in its wake.

In a statement dated Sunday and seen by the Morning Star yesterday, the party said: “Iraqis are marking a great victory, clearing their land of the plague of Daesh” — the Arabic acronym for Isis.

The communists lauded the “greatest examples of heroism and sacrifice for the cause of liberation” shown by the armed forces, Shi’ite Popular Mobilisation Units, Kurdish peshmerga and local militia fighters in predominantly Sunni Muslim areas.

It called upon “all political forces and all effective societal actors” to “overcome the difficulties and open up new horizons for Iraq.

“Our battle against terrorism has entered a new phase,” the party said. “The biggest task still remains: to drain its sources.”

The lesson of the Isis capture of Mosul in 2014 was that grievances, chiefly “the political system based on sectarian and ethnic quotas,” had to be addressed.

“This requires building a broad national democratic alignment that will transform Iraq from a state of constituents into a state of citizenship and social justice.”

Yesterday, the US-led coalition condemned an Amnesty International report on Monday alleging that the Iraqi army may have committed war crimes in Mosul amid the vicious street-fighting with Isis gunmen and suicide bombers in the northern city.

Amnesty’s report also condemned Isis for using civilians as human shields. It said that use of rckets and bombs in the heavily populated enclave had wreaked havoc, with thousands of people killed.

jamestweedie@peoples-press.com