| ABC News | - |
Thousands
of heavily-armed Shiite militiamen paraded through several Iraqi cities
on Saturday after Sunni militants seized a town on the Syrian border in
what appeared to be the start of a new offensive in the western Anbar
province.
Iraq Militia Parades as Insurgents Seize Crossing
The capture on Friday of the town of Qaim and its border crossing dealt
another blow to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, which has
struggled to push back against Islamic extremists and allied militants
who have seized large swaths of the country's north, including the
second largest city Mosul.
But while al-Maliki has come under mounting pressure to reach out to
disaffected Kurds and Sunnis, the display of heavy weapons by the Shiite
fighters indicated that forces beyond Baghdad's control may be pushing
the conflict toward a sectarian showdown.
In Baghdad, about 20,000 men, many in combat gear, marched through the
Sadr City district with assault rifles, machine guns, multiple rocket
launchers, field artillery and missiles. Similar parades were held in
the southern cities of Amarah and Basra.
The parades were staged by followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr,
who once led a powerful militia that battled U.S. troops and was blamed
for some of the mass killing of Sunni civilians during the sectarian
bloodletting that peaked in 2006 and 2007.
Police and army officials said the al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant, along with allied militants, seized Qaim and its
crossing, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Baghdad, after
killing some 30 Iraqi troops in daylong clashes Friday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to talk to media, said people were now crossing back and
forth freely.
Chief military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi tacitly
acknowledged Qaim's fall, telling a news conference in Baghdad that
troops aided by local tribesmen were seeking to clear the city of
"terrorists."
Sunni militants have carved out a large fiefdom astride the Iraqi-Syrian
border and have long traveled back and forth with ease, but the control
of crossings allows them to more easily move weapons and heavy
equipment to different battlefields.
Al-Moussawi said fighting was continuing for a fifth day over Iraq's
largest refinery in Beiji, north of Baghdad, with the army force there
repelling three waves of attacks by the Sunni militants on Friday night.
The fall of Qaim came as al-Maliki faces mounting pressure to form an
inclusive government or step aside, with both a top Shiite cleric and
the White House strongly hinting he is in part to blame for the worst
crisis since U.S. troops withdrew from the country at the end of 2011.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most respected voice for Iraq's
Shiite majority, on Friday joined calls for al-Maliki to reach out to
the Kurdish and Sunni minorities a day after President Barack Obama
challenged him to create a leadership representative of all Iraqis.
Al-Sistani normally stays above the political fray, and his comments,
delivered through a representative, could ultimately seal al-Maliki's
fate.
Calling for a dialogue between the political coalitions that won seats
in the April 30 parliamentary election, al-Sistani said it was
imperative that they form "an effective government that enjoys broad
national support" and "avoids past mistakes."
Al-Sistani is deeply revered by Iraq's majority Shiites, and his
critical words could force al-Maliki, who emerged from relative
obscurity in 2006 to lead the country, to step down.
On Thursday, Obama stopped short of calling for al-Maliki to resign, but
his carefully worded comments did all but that. "Only leaders that can
govern with an inclusive agenda are going to be able to truly bring the
Iraqi people together and help them through this crisis," Obama said.
The Iranian-born al-Sistani, believed to be 86, lives in the Shiite holy
city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, where he rarely ventures out of his
modest house and does not give media interviews. His call to arms last
week prompted thousands of Shiites to volunteer to fight against the
Sunni militants.
His call to defend the country, and its Shiite shrines, has given the
fight against the Sunni insurgents the feel of a religious war, but his
office in Najaf dismissed that charge, saying the top cleric was
addressing all Iraqis.
Al-Maliki's State of Law bloc won the most seats in the April vote, but
his hopes to retain his job are in doubt, with rivals challenging him
from within the broader Shiite alliance. In order to govern, his bloc
must first form a majority coalition in the new 328-seat legislature,
which must meet by June 30.
If al-Maliki were to relinquish his post now, according to the
constitution the president, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, would assume the job
until a new prime minister is elected. But the ailing Talabani has been
in Germany for treatment since 2012, so his deputy, Khudeir al-Khuzaie,
a Shiite, would step in for him.
Shiite politicians familiar with the secretive efforts to remove
al-Maliki said two names mentioned as replacements are former vice
president Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite and French-educated economist, and
Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite who served as Iraq's first prime minister
after Saddam Hussein's ouster. Others include Ahmad Chalabi, a one-time
Washington favorite to lead Iraq, and Bayan Jabr, another Shiite who
served as finance and interior minister under al-Maliki.
Nearly three years after he heralded the end of America's war in Iraq,
Obama announced Thursday he was deploying up to 300 military advisers to
help quell the insurgency. They join some 275 troops in and around Iraq
to provide security and support for the U.S. Embassy and other American
interests.
Obama has been adamant that U.S. troops would not be returning to
combat, but has said he could approve "targeted and precise" strikes
requested by Baghdad.
Manned and unmanned U.S. aircraft are now flying over Iraq 24 hours a day on intelligence missions, U.S. officials say.
end quote from:
end quote from:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/top-shiite-cleric-calls-government-iraq-24236581?singlePage=true
Though we have de facto Sectarian Violence in Syria the face of Sectarian violence takes on a more international tone now between Sunnis and Shias. We might be seeing now the real face of Sectarian war as it rips apart nations throughout the middle east, especially in Syria, Iraq and Iran which are the Shia enclave.
What I find the most horrifying by all this is that basically two countries are behind all this: Russia and Iran. Without the stance of Russia and Iran this sectarian war turning the whole mideast into Chaos likely wouldn't even exist.
Instead it is likely Assad would have fallen and Syria might now be Sunni ruled. ISIL likely wouldn't even exist in it's present form. However, the pressure from Russia and Iran have made all this inevitable over the past three years. So, in this proxy war in Syria all this hell has been unleashed upon the middle east including now into Iraq. And where does it go from here?
What I find the most horrifying by all this is that basically two countries are behind all this: Russia and Iran. Without the stance of Russia and Iran this sectarian war turning the whole mideast into Chaos likely wouldn't even exist.
Instead it is likely Assad would have fallen and Syria might now be Sunni ruled. ISIL likely wouldn't even exist in it's present form. However, the pressure from Russia and Iran have made all this inevitable over the past three years. So, in this proxy war in Syria all this hell has been unleashed upon the middle east including now into Iraq. And where does it go from here?
No comments:
Post a Comment