Kerry says Islamic State committing genocide in Iraq, Syria

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry determined Thursday that the Islamic State group is committing genocide against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria, meeting a congressional deadline for a decision.

The declaration, while long sought by Congress and human rights groups, changes little.

A day after the State Department said Kerry would miss the deadline because he needed to gather evidence and act deliberatively, Kerry said he had completed his review and determined that Christians, Yazidis and Shiite groups are victims of genocide and crimes against humanity by Islamic State militants.

“In my judgment Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in territory under its control” Kerry said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

Saying that he was “neither judge nor prosecutor nor jury,” Kerry added that any potential criminal charges against the extremists must result from an independent international investigation.