Iraq in turmoil: ISIL militants take Syria-border post

Iraq media advisor denies post has fallen; militias parade weapons in Baghdad’s Sadr city.

ANBAR:

Militants seized a border post on the Iraq-Syria frontier, security sources said on Saturday, smashing a line drawn by colonial powers almost a century ago with the aim of creating an Islamic caliphate stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to Iran.

The militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), first moved into the nearby town of al Qaim on Friday, pushing out security forces, the sources said. Once border guards heard that al Qaim had fallen, they left their posts and militants moved in, the sources said.

Sameer al Shwiali, media adviser to the commander of Iraq’s anti-terrorist squad, told Reuters that the Iraqi army was still in control of al Qaim. Al Qaim and its neighbouring Syrian counterpart Albukamal are on a strategic supply route.

ISIL, an al Qaeda off-shoot, has captured swathes of territory in northwest and central Iraq, including the second city, Mosul. They have seized large amounts of weaponry from the fleeing Iraqi army and looted banks.

World powers are deadlocked over the crises in Iraq and Syria. Iran has said it will not hesitate to protect sacred shrines if asked by Baghdad but Saudi Arabia has warned Tehran to stay out of Iraq.

US President Barack Obama has offered up to 300 special forces advisers to help the Iraqi government recapture territory seized by ISIL and other armed groups across northern and western Iraq. But he has held off granting a request for air strikes to protect the government and renewed a call for Iraq’s long-serving  prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to do more to overcome sectarian divisions that have fuelled resentment among the Sunni minority.

The fighting has divided Iraq along sectarian lines. The Kurds have expanded their zone in the northeast to include the oil city of Kirkuk, which they regard as part of Kurdistan, while Sunnis have taken ground in the west.

The government has mobilised Shia militia to send volunteers to the front lines. In Baghdad’s slum of Sadr City, thousands of fighters wearing military fatigues marched through the streets. They carried rocket-propelled grenades, semi-automatic rifles and trucks had mounted long-range rockets, including the new 3-metre ‘Muqtada 1’ missile, named after Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr, who has tens of thousands of followers. Sadr has yet to throw his fighters into the recent wave of fighting but has criticised Maliki for mishandling the crisis.

“These brigades are sending a message of peace. They are the brigades of peace. They are ready to sacrifice their souls and blood for the sake of defending Iraq and its generous people,” a man on a podium said as the troops marched by.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2014.