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| Iraq |
| Tribes, Police Retake Parts of Iraq's Ramadi |
| 2014-01-11 |
| [An Nahar] Tribesmen and police retook two areas of Anbar picturesque provincial capital Ramadi from Death Eaters Friday, but gunnies still held other parts of the city and controlled another one on Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... 's doorstep. The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... and NGOs have said that civilians lack access to essential supplies such as food and fuel as a result of a government blockade, while Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... has condemned rights abuses by all sides during the crisis. Washington, meanwhile, has piled pressure on Storied Baghdad to focus on political reconciliation, in addition to ongoing military operations, in a bid to resolve the standoff, which comes just months before general elections. Gunmen seized all of 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... just 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Storied Baghdad, and parts of Anbar picturesque provincial capital Ramadi last week, the first time Death Eaters have exercised such open control in major cities since the insurgency that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Both cities are predominantly Sunni Arab and were former Death Eater bastions in Anbar, which shares a border with Syria. On Friday, rustics and local police retook the Malaab and Fursan areas of Ramadi from al-Qaeda-linked myrmidons, tribal military commander Mohammed Khamis Abu Risha told Agence La Belle France Presse. "We fought ISIL alongside our sons from the local police forces and returned them to their stations," Abu Risha said, referring to the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... group. "They only control 10 percent of Ramadi territory," he said of ISIL. An AFP journalist in Ramadi also saw rustics and police apparently in control of the two areas. Abu Risha, the nephew of a powerful tribal sheikh, has backed anti-government protesters and was implicated in the killing of five soldiers near Ramadi last year, but in ISIL shares a common enemy with the government in Storied Baghdad. Two non-combatants were killed and four others were maimed in violence in the city, according to a doctor, while eight Death Eaters also suffered injuries. In Fallujah, meanwhile, a prayer leader called for provincial sheikhs to intervene to resolve the crisis in the city, but warned that the government "should not use the army for internal fighting in the cities." "Do not make Fallujah a place that attracts killing and blood," Sheikh Abdulhamid Jadua said during Friday prayers. Violence in predominantly Sunni Arab areas elsewhere in Iraq, meanwhile, left seven people dead, officials said. 'Fallujah is an Islamic state' A surge in nationwide violence to levels not seen since 2008 and the standoff over Ramadi and Fallujah are among the biggest threats to face Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during his eight years in office. ISIL has been active in the Anbar fighting, but so have anti-government tribes. At the same time, security forces have recruited their own tribal allies in the fighting that has raged in Anbar for more than 10 days. Last Friday, hundreds of gunnies, some bearing black flags often flown by jihadists, gathered at outdoor weekly Mohammedan prayers in central Fallujah, where one myrmidon announced that "Fallujah is an Islamic state". The Iraqi Red Islamic Thingy said it had provided humanitarian assistance to more than 8,000 families across Anbar but that upwards of 13,000 had fled. A senior U.S. official has warned the crisis could take weeks to resolve. "We're encouraging a patient and deliberate approach," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... . "I think weeks would be prudent." An AFP journalist reported this week that traffic police had returned to Fallujah's streets, some shops had reopened and more cars could be seen, but masked gunnies still controlled the city. An Iraqi military front man has said an assault on Fallujah was on hold for fear of civilian casualties. Attacking the Sunni-majority city would be a significant test for security forces, who have yet to undertake such a major operation without the backing of US troops. It would also be extremely sensitive politically, as it would inflame already high tensions between the Sunni Arab minority and the Shiite-led government. Fighting erupted in the Ramadi area on December 30, when security forces cleared a year-old Sunni Arab protest camp. The violence spread to Fallujah, and Death Eaters moved in and seized the city and parts of Ramadi after security forces withdrew. |
| Posted by:Fred |