IS Signals Re-Emergence in Parts of Iraq
While
this month marks the first anniversary of the Iraqi-proclaimed victory
over the Islamic State (IS) terror group, U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are
still trying to hunt down remaining IS militants as the extremist group
returns to its insurgent roots.
In
a televised address on December 9, 2017, former Iraqi prime minister
Haider al-Abadi announced the defeat of IS and the end of Iraqi campaign
to recapture its territory.
While
many considered IS obliterated following the declaration, recent
reports show the militant group is still active in parts of the country
and increasingly has been assassinating important figures, bombing Iraqi
forces and kidnapping civilians.
On
Tuesday, security forces said IS militants disguised in Iraqi uniforms
entered al-Amrini, 20 kilometers south of Mosul, and killed its
"mukhtar," or leader, al-Shaeikh Raghib Abid al-Hadi al-Badrani. His
tribesmen protested the killing, saying the lack of Iraqi army patrols
gave IS militants free mobility in Nineveh province villages.
Ahmad
Hazm al-Badrani, a spokesman for the Sunni tribe, said the village head
was sleeping when IS fighters broke into his home.
"They took him from his bedroom and walked him outside his house for 100 meters before shooting him," al-Badrani said.
Sunni tribal force
During
the Iraqi campaign to recapture Mosul last year, the al-Badrani tribe
had a local force of nearly 600 members fighting alongside the Sunni
Tribal Mobilization Forces against IS. The Iraqi government later
dismantled the force.
"We
hold security forces of Nineveh accountable for the recent breaches in
our area. We ask them to arm us if they are not able to contain the
situation," the spokesman told VOA.
The
killing of al-Badrani was not an isolated attack. Iraqi village heads
have found themselves the targets of IS militants for months.
Michael
Knights, an Iraq military analyst and senior fellow at the Washington
Institute, told VOA his research showed that IS insurgents have killed
an average of 8.4 village heads per month since January 2018.
“ISIS
fighters see villages as easier targets because they know big cities
like Mosul are well-guarded by security forces, and residents, who are
very disillusioned by IS destruction, will easily report them," Knights
said, using an acronym for Islamic State.
Smaller communities feel less protected and are less keen on cooperating with security forces, he said.
"Village members know ISIS can walk into their village anytime, kill the most important person there and leave," Knights said.
Knights said the Iraqi government needs to recruit local community members to protect the safety of those isolated villages.
IS regrouping
Iraqi
officials say the IS attempt to regroup in Iraq and resize areas is not
a surprise and their forces are well-prepared to prevent such moves.
Iraqi
Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in a press conference last month warned
that hundreds of IS militants in Syria's eastern province of Deir
el-Zour were attempting to cross into Iraq.
"Iraqi
forces are carrying out their duties to pre-empt any attempts by ISIS
to infiltrate the border and cross into Iraq," Abdul-Mahdi told
reporters.
There
are no official data from the Iraqi government on IS remnants in the
country. A recent report from Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) said the group might still have 20,000 to 30,000
militants in Iraq and Syria, with an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 in Iraq.
According
to the CSIS report, The Islamic State and the Persistent Threat of
Extremism in Iraq, IS attacks against Iraqi government targets increased
from 2017 to 2018. It said the group was still claiming an average of
78 attacks per month in Iraq — higher than the average for 2016 but
lower than 2017.
Disputed territories
Maxwell Markusen, the author of the report, told VOA his findings showed IS insurgency had been particularly sustained in disputed territories, with the number of attacks more than doubling in Kirkuk province from 2017 to 2018.
Disputed territories
Maxwell Markusen, the author of the report, told VOA his findings showed IS insurgency had been particularly sustained in disputed territories, with the number of attacks more than doubling in Kirkuk province from 2017 to 2018.
The
vast disputed area, consisting of Kirkuk and parts of Nineveh, Saladin
and Diyala provinces, has been a point of high contention between the
central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government for decades.
The Kurdish Peshmerga forces were forced out of the territories shortly
after a Kurdish referendum for independence was held in September 2017.
The two sides then stopped joint counter-IS operations.
"The
ability of Iraqi forces to conduct targeted raids in disputed
territories is in my opinion the most important element of the mission
to press any IS activity," Markusen said. "If you look at what's going
on right now, there are very limited operations and the ability of the
government to target IS has been significantly reduced. … If it's really
to be attributed to one thing, it is likely the lack of joint patrols
that haven't taken place since October 2017."
The
role of Iranian-backed Shiite militias in exacerbating Shiite-Sunni
tensions and the failure of the Iraqi government to address factors that
contribute to instability, such as slow reconstruction of war-torn
areas, economic stagnation and corruption, are also among useful
recruiting tools for a sectarian-fueled IS insurgency, he said.
"I
think that it is going to get worse if there is a failure to address
the political issues in Kirkuk,” and the rebuilding in Nineveh, Saladin
and other parts of Iraq that have been decimated will take longer, he
said.
Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/is-signals-re-emergence-in-parts-of-iraq/4688907.html
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