Iraqi authorities announced a significant breakthrough in their pursuit of justice for one of the most heinous war crimes committed by the Islamic State group. A suspect linked to the 2014 massacre of up to 1,700 captive cadets at the air force academy in Camp Speicher has been arrested, the interior ministry reported on Thursday.

The suspect has been identified as Abdelkhalek Khazaal Soltan and was apprehended during a joint operation conducted by the federal intelligence services and counter-terrorism police in Sulaimaniyah, the second-largest city in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

According to General Saad Maan, a spokesman for the interior ministry, Soltan joined the ranks of ISIS in 2013 and was involved in multiple operations targeting security forces. Moreover, he allegedly played a direct role in the Camp Speicher massacre, where Shiites and Christians among the captive cadets were singled out and mercilessly gunned down. Their bodies were callously disposed of in mass graves or thrown into the nearby Tigris River.

The 2014 atrocity sparked global outrage and prompted a wave of volunteer Shiite fighters to join the fight against the ISIS extremists. Their collective efforts ultimately led to a victory declaration in December 2017.

In a 2021 report to the UN Security Council, investigators uncovered the full extent of the war crimes committed during the massacre. The victims, predominantly Shia unarmed air cadets and their instructors, endured horrific acts of murder, torture, cruel treatment, and violations of personal dignity. The video released by ISIS in July 2015, showing the killings, was deemed a direct and public incitement to commit genocide against Shia Muslims.

The Iraqi courts have already handed down numerous death sentences to individuals found guilty of participating in the brutal massacre. In January of [Current Year], 14 people were sentenced to death for their role in the atrocity, while in 2016, 36 men were hanged after being convicted of carrying out the killings.

The arrest of Abdelkhalek Khazaal Soltan represents a significant step towards delivering justice for the victims and holding perpetrators accountable for their horrendous crimes committed during one of the darkest chapters in Iraq's recent history.