...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....
group from inside djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
's complex urban terrain, Iraq's Iran-backed Shiite paramilitary forces have been working their way through less glamorous territory: vast deserts west and south of the city that run along and across Iraq's border with Syria.
The territory, dotted with small villages and dusty roads, is home to key supply lines into neighboring Syria and connecting Iraq's north to the capital Baghdad. Control of the Iraqi-Syrian border would be a key strategic prize for the mostly Shiite paramilitary forces and their backer Iran, who also supports the government of Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Suppressor of the Damascenes...
One division of the Iraqi government-sanctioned paramilitary group known as the Popular Mobilization Forces first reached Iraq's border with Syria on Monday after securing a string of small villages west of Mosul and south of Sinjar, according to Ahmed al-Asadi, the group's front man.
"This will be the first step to the liberation of the entire border," he said.
The PMF began Monday's operation by pushing IS holy warriors out of the center of the town of Baaj, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Syrian border. Once the town was retaken a unit was dispatched to secure the village of Um Jrais along the border.
"This victory will also be an important incentive for the Syrian Arab Army to secure the entire border from the Syrian side," al-Asadi said, referring the Assad's government forces.
As the PMF secure more of the border region, they plan to "erect a dirt barricade and dig a trench," said Sheikh Sami al-Masoudi, a paramilitary group leader.
Iraq's border with Syria has long been a haven for smugglers and murderous Moslem activity.
The Nineveh foothold would give the paramilitary forces considerable leverage politically and militarily in Iraq after the fight against IS is concluded, according to Maria Fantappie, the senior Iraq researcher for the International Crisis Group, a non-governmental research firm.
| The Iranians have been prioritizing something that the U.S. has overlooked: control over strategic roads, rather than control of the Sunni communities. |
Fantappie said explaining that the U.S.-led coalition's fight against IS has largely focused on retaking cities while the PMF have instead focused on transit and supply lines.
Control of roads and borders also allows the paramilitary forces to divide Iraq's Sunni community geographically and politically, Fantappie said.
"They have been trying to bisect Iraq and prevent a unified Sunni block from emerging," she said.
In Syria, Assad's forces and their allies have also been on the offensive, moving toward the Iraqi and Jordanian border, but are still far from reaching it. U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, IS holy warriors and Syrian rebels are also fighting for territory in an increasingly messy battle space.
After securing the Iraqi side of the border with Syria, Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces are ready to move inside Syrian territories to assist Assad, said Hashim al-Mousawi, a leader with the powerful al-Nujaba militia that falls under the PMF umbrella. Before the PMF was sanctioned by the Iraqi government al-Nujaba fighters openly fought inside Syria, helping prop up the Assad regime during the early days of the uprising against his government.
But, now al-Mousawi said crossing into Syria to fight would require the approval of the Iraqi government in Baghdad