In addition to their positions in Bartella and surrounding Shabak areas, Brigade 30 controls the main trade highway between Mosul and Erbil.

The API has recorded dozens of accounts of physical intimidation, sexual harassment, religious discrimination, robbery, and theft of land or property.

[12] Local populations fear that Brigade 30 is using the post-ISIS instability to seize a greater claim over cities like Qaraqosh (Bakhdida) and Bartella, and to advance demographic change in historically Assyrian areas.

[17] The Shabak Brigade has also been accused of receiving missiles from Iran, and providing cover for facilities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Nineveh Plains, exacerbating the potential for a conflict in the region.

Members of the local population had stated that the 30th Brigade has been responsible for egregious offenses including physical intimidation, extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and rape.