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| Iraq |
| Iraq poised to deploy Iran-backed Shi'ite militia in offensive in West |
| 2015-05-01 |
| [EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Iraq is poised to deploy Shi'ite paramilitaries backed by Iran to Sunni tribal areas west of Baghdad, a move supporters say is needed to defeat Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... turbans but opponents say could inflame more sectarian violence. Shi'ite paramilitaries have already played a central, if controversial, role alongside regular army units in recent months in the Iraqi government's first major successful campaign against Islamic State fighters, helping to capture Saddam Hussein's home town Tikrit on the Tigris River north of Baghdad. So far, however, the government has avoided deploying the militia in the Euphrates River valley province of Anbar west of the capital, a vast Sunni tribal homeland that strides the main routes to Jordan and Syria. Baghdad considers Anbar the next target in its campaign to retake territory from the bad boys. But with the army advance having faltered, officials are now speaking openly about dispatching the militia, organized under the umbrella of "Hashid Shaabi" - "Popular Mobilisation". This could alarm the United States, which is supporting the Iraqi government from the air against Islamic State fighters but is wary of Baghdad's alliance with Shi'ite forces of Evil who openly receive arms, funds and strategic direction from Iran. Some Anbar tribal figures fighting on the government side against Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, have issued calls in recent days for Baghdad to send the militia to their aid. "We must recognize that it will be too difficult for tribal fighters and security forces to defeat IS in Anbar," said Sheikh Ahmed al-Assafi, who commands a group of rustics fighting the turbans and who met Shi'ite militia commander Qais al-Khazali to discuss the participation of the Hashid Shaabi in Anbar. But others say this would be a dangerous mistake, provoking rustics to rally behind Islamic State, which presents itself as a defender against Shi'ite forces of Evil responsible for atrocities. "If the Hashid enters (Anbar), in whatever guise, the situation will not stabilize," said Sheikh Ali Hammad, who fled to the northern Kurdish region from Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperityor a really nice place to raise your kids... an Anbar city just west of Baghdad that is now largely held by Islamic State. |
| Posted by:Fred |