By Andrei AKULOV
Instability in Iraq has grown steadily over the recent months. The Iraqi
government has lost control of the strategic city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
For the first time since the American troops' withdrawal in 2011, fighters from
a group affiliated with Al Qaeda and Sunni tribesmen have seized parts of the
two biggest cities in Anbar province bordering Syria.
The fighting erupted after troops broke up a protest camp by Sunni Arabs in
the city of Ramadi. They were protesting marginalizing the Sunnis by the
Shia-led government. When Prime Minister Maliki dispatched the Iraqi army to
quell a protest in Ramadi over a week ago, local tribes fought back. Maliki
ordered the troops to withdraw. As a result Islamic militants appeared in
Ramadi, Fallujah and Tarmiya triggering combat actions across the whole Anbar
province. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) asserted control over
the western Iraqi city of Fallujah on January 3 declaring an Islamic state
there. They had received a boost from some local Sunni tribesmen, who had
joined them to fight the forces of Iraq's Shiite-led government, while others
turned against the jihadists. Local tribes, Iraqi security forces and
al-Qaeda-affiliated militants fought one another for days in a kind of
free-for-all messy three-way fray. Hundreds of Fallujah residents have fled.
The Prime Minister reversed his decision sending army units back to Anbar. Now
the Iraqi army is bracing up for a real tough fight ahead. In case of failure
the whole country will be threatened with Syria-like scenario.
Root of problem
The current violence is rooted in the sectarian disputes left unresolved
when U.S. troops withdrew and inflamed by the escalating conflict in
neighboring Syria. Many Iraqi Sunnis claim they are being marginalized by Mr.
Maliki's Shia-led government. Mr. Maliki's drive to restore control is being
seen by many Sunnis as an attempt at domination and oppression, and it is
taking Iraq back to the brink of a sectarian civil war. In recent months Sunni
militants have stepped up attacks across the country, while Shia groups
retaliated with deadly reprisals bringing the situation to the brink of
full-scale sectarian conflict. On January 1 the United Nations said at least
7,818 civilians and 1,050 members of the security forces had been killed in in 2013. Islamist militants benefit from these
deep-seated grievances. The upheaval testifies to the soaring capabilities of
the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), the rebranded version of the
al-Qaeda which has expanded into Syria while escalating its activities in Iraq.
In the past year al-Qaeda has bounced back there killing more than 8,000 people
in 2013, according to the United Nations. ISIL has become one of the main
components of the so-called «rebels» fighting in the Western-backed war for
regime-change in neighboring Syria. Having seized control of territory in
northern Syria, it has proven capable of moving forces back and forth across
the Syrian-Iraqi border to stage car bombings, assaults on military and police
units, and sectarian attacks. Its stated aim is the establishment of a Sunni
Muslim caliphate spanning both countries. A backdrop of near continuous urban
bombings against Shi’a and government targets continues in northern Iraq and
Baghdad. ISIL hopes to link its holdings in Eastern Syria with corresponding
areas of control in Iraq’s majority Sunni Arab northwest. In September it
bombed four key bridges linking important Iraqi border towns with urban centers
closer to Baghdad. In late November, ISIL fighters paraded through a main
square of Ramadi to rally support. The recent capture of positions in Ramadi
and large parts of Fallujah was the first time in years that Sunni insurgents
had taken ground in the province's major cities and held their positions for
days.
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