Parts of 2 Key Iraqi Cities Fall to Qaeda Group Active in Syria

BAGHDAD — Radical Sunni militants aligned with Al Qaeda threatened on Thursday to seize control of Falluja and Ramadi, two of the most important cities in Iraq, setting fire to police stations, freeing prisoners from jail and occupying mosques, as the government rushed troop reinforcements to the areas.

Dressed in black and waving the flag of Al Qaeda, the militants put out calls over mosque loudspeakers for men to join their struggle in both cities in western Anbar Province, which were hugely important battlegrounds during the American-led war in Iraq and remain hotbeds of Sunni extremism.

The fighting in Ramadi and Falluja had implications that extended beyond Anbar’s borders, as the Sunni militants fought beneath the same banner as the most hard-line jihadists in Syria — the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

That fight, and a deadly bombing in Beirut on Thursday, was the latest evidence that the Syrian civil war was breeding bloodshed and sectarian violence around the region, destabilizing Lebanon and Iraq while fueling a resurgence of radical Islamist fighters.

The number of casualties in Anbar was unclear amid the unfolding chaos, but officials in hospitals in the province reported that at least 35 people were killed on Thursday and more than 70 others were wounded.

The fighting began several days ago after Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite, ordered security forces to dismantle protest encampments in Falluja and Ramadi.

That order came just after fighting erupted following the government’s arrest of a prominent Sunni lawmaker who had been a supporter of the protests, which had been going on for more than a year and had become an outlet for disenchanted Sunnis angered by their treatment by the Shiite-dominated central government led by Mr. Maliki. The arrest attempt led to a firefight that left several bodyguards and the brother of the lawmaker dead, and set off clashes between the government and armed tribesmen.

Officials later seemed to have calmed the situation, and in a deal between local tribal leaders and the central government, Mr. Maliki agreed to withdraw the army from Anbar on Tuesday.

But as soon as any traces of government authority vanished, large numbers of Qaeda-aligned fighters swarmed the cities, and by Wednesday the prime minister had reversed his decision, sending troops back and trying to secure the support of local tribal leaders — who just the day before had sent their men into the streets to fight the government — offering them guns and money to join forces with the regular army.

Abu Risha, a local tribal leader who had been a leader of the Awakening — the groups of tribesmen that switched sides in 2007 and joined the Americans to fight Al Qaeda — issued a statement urging local men to take up arms again against Al Qaeda.

“We were all surprised that the terrorists left the desert and entered your cities to return a second time, to commit their crimes, to cut off the heads, blow up houses, kill scholars and disrupt life,” his statement said. “They came back, and I am delighted for their public appearance after the security forces failed to find them. Let this time be the decisive confrontation with Al Qaeda.”

In a telephone interview on Thursday, one tribal fighter loyal to the government, Abu Omar, described heavy clashes across Falluja, and said the government had started shelling militant hide-outs.

“We told all the families to leave their houses,” he said, with the sound of gunfire in the background. “Many of the families fled from the city, and others are still unable to because of the heavy clashes. We have reports that the hospital in Falluja is full of dead and wounded people.”

As Iraq descended into civil war during the American occupation, the epicenter of the unrest was in the desert region of Anbar, a restive cradle of Sunni discontent where swaggering tribesmen defied authority even under Saddam Hussein. American forces fought some of the most intense battles of the war in Anbar.

Now, four straight days of heavy fighting have heightened fears that Iraq is descending into the type of sectarian civil war that it once faced and that is currently raging in Syria.

The chaos in Anbar has underscored the steady deterioration of Iraq’s security in the two years since the withdrawal of American forces. With Iraqi casualty rates at their highest in five years, the United States has rushed to provide the Iraqi government with new missiles and surveillance drones to combat the resurgence of Al Qaeda.

Analysts have long worried that the war in Syria would engulf Iraq, as hard-line Sunni rebels in Syria have said they see the two countries as one battlefield in the fight for Sunni dominance. For some time, the Syria war has dragged in Iraqis along sectarian lines, with Iraqi Shiites rushing to Syria to support the government President Bashar al-Assad, and Iraq’s Qaeda affiliate fostering the most extremist Sunni fighting units across the border.

These fears of spillover have been most acute in Anbar’s ungovernable desert, which borders Syria and where tribal loyalties cut across borders, making it fertile territory for Al Qaeda’s resurgence.

Earlier in the week many tribesmen fought against the government, following the arrest of the Sunni lawmaker and the dismantling of the protest tents, but when Al Qaeda returned to the cities of Anbar many quickly switched sides.

“We don’t want to be like Syria,” said Sheikh Omar Al-Asabi, who led a group of fighting men in an area east of Falluja.

Yasir Ghazi reported from Baghdad, and Tim Arango from Istanbul. An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Falluja, Iraq.

Not sure if this had been posted, but I think its a very important article as to what 2014 may be about.

SECURITY

Districts of Ramadi and Fallujah west of Baghdad have been held by militants for days, harkening back to the years after the 2003 US-led invasion when both cities in Anbar province were insurgent strongholds.

 

Fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) advanced in early morning clashes into areas in central Ramadi and deployed snipers on one street, a police captain said.

 

A police colonel said the army had re-entered areas of Fallujah, between Ramadi and Baghdad, but that a around a quarter of it remained under ISIL control. Soldiers and armed tribesmen held the rest and had also surrounded the city, he said.

 

However, another senior officer, a police lieutenant colonel, said that while soldiers had deployed around the city they had yet to enter Fallujah. The city was the target of two major assaults after the 2003 invasion in which American forces saw some of their heaviest fighting since the Vietnam War.

 

American troops fought for years, aided by Sunni tribesmen after late 2006, to wrest control of Anbar province from militants. But two years after US forces completed their withdrawal from Iraq, the power of militants in the province is again on the rise.

 

Clashes erupted in the Ramadi area on Monday as security forces tore down the country´s main anti-government protest camp. The site was one of several that sprang up after Sunni Arabs began protesting in late 2012, condemning what they called the marginalisation of their minority community and its unfair targeting in heavy-handed security forces tactics. The violence in Ramadi spread to Fallujah, and a subsequent withdrawal of security forces from areas of both cities cleared the way for ISIL to move in.

 

Police and tribal fighters battled ISIL in east Ramadi on Thursday, but the fighting eased after several hours with militants still controlling some areas.

 

Iraqi special forces also clashed with militants in Fallujah on Thursday, their commander said. At least 14 people were killed on Monday and Tuesday in Ramadi, but casualties from the later clashes there and in Fallujah were not immediately clear.

 

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had long sought the closure of the protest camp near Ramadi that was demolished on Monday, dubbing it a "headquarters for the leadership of Al-Qaeda". But the removal of the camp has come at the cost of a sharp decline in the security situation in Anbar province. And while the camp´s closure has removed a physical sign of Sunni Arab grievances, the perceived injustices that underpinned the demonstration remain unaddressed.

This is looking like the problems are becoming more unified...

I think it is more a case of the government responding to a major Al-Qaeda offense. The Anbar Province which borders on Jordan has always been a stronghold for them. Jordan has become a major training and recruiting area for them as well ... so it is not unexpected.

However.. the full fledged attacks and the timing of these attacks are looking like Qaeda Has a new years resolution to me. I think they know Iraq is weak and they will try and turn Iraq into the next Syria.. however time will tell..

This is the time of year they tend to launch offensives. Temperatures are in the 50-70F range and the weather is dry from November through March. Keep in mind they're Muslim, and their new year Started October 24th, not January 1st. Their goal has always been to turn Iraq, and every nation into an Iran ... with absolute dictatorial control and rule by a Muslim Theocracy.

I know Kevin as far as the New Years thing. Is it coincidence that starting January 1st 2014 they launch the attacks? maybe... however I think it may be a message to the west IMO.

I do understand that those two Cities have been contested for quite awhile, However I think and fear that there is growing pressure now and even though their have been attacks in the past few months.. the attacks are growing larger.

Syria as I'm sure you well know is a breeding cesspool for the Terrorist and now it is growing pass the borders...

I have a feeling that the Terrorist groups are gathering and they are planning and I have a deep and dark fear that 2014 is going to be a very active year for them. They have the forward momentum and I have a feeling they are going to ride that wave.

They are and will continue to be a problem. We can do what we will, but until the Lord comes again they will be with us. Have no doubt, they have every intent of not only striking in Iraq, Israel, Russia, etc, but the US as well. They live for the day when they bring the great satan (US) to it's knees and eradicate the little satan (Israel). We have not heard the last from them on this soil, let alone elsewhere.

I agree

Iraq moves up tanks, guns for looming Falluja assault


The Iraqi army deployed tanks and artillery around Falluja on Tuesday, security officials said, as local leaders in the besieged city urged al Qaeda-linked militants to leave in order to avert an impending military assault.

Security officials and tribal leaders have said that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed to hold off an offensive to give people in Falluja time to push the militants out. But it is not clear how long they have before troops storm the town, close to Baghdad, where U.S. forces fought notable battles a decade ago.

Fighters, some of them foreign, from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al Qaeda affiliate also active across the border in Syria, overran police stations in Falluja and another city in Iraq's western Anbar province last week.

Many in Iraq's once dominant Sunni Muslim minority, the main group in Anbar, share ISIL's dislike of Maliki's Shi'ite-led government. But tribal leaders in the province are trying to steer a path between the army and the al Qaeda fighters.

"If the army attacks Falluja to fight a handful of al Qaeda elements, that will have dire consequences by triggering endless violence," one Sunni tribal leader in Falluja told Reuters, adding that it could spread to other Sunni districts.

"We are sending a clear message to the government," he said. "Go ahead and fight al Qaeda outside Falluja and we ourselves will deal with the issue inside the city."

Iraq's U.S.-equipped armed forces have already shelled and launched airstrikes against militants over the past week. Sunni tribesmen from the area are fighting on both sides.

Officials say dozens of militants have been killed, but the number of casualties among civilians, security forces and tribal fighters is not yet clear.

The violence has underlined how civil war in Syria has inflamed a broader confrontation across the Middle East between Shi'ite Iran, the main ally of President Bashar al-Assad, and Sunni powers like Saudi Arabia, which back the Syrian rebels.

The United States said on Monday that it would speed up deliveries of military hardware, including drones and missiles, to Iraq. It has ruled out sending back troops, two years after Washington ended nine years of occupation.

ISIL has for some months been tightening its grip on Anbar, a thinly populated region the size of England, with the stated aim of creating a Sunni religious state straddling the border into Syria's rebel-held eastern desert provinces.

Iraqi security forces backed by tribal fighters regained control in the centre of Anbar's provincial capital Ramadi on Monday, a special forces officer said. Fighting continued in some areas on Tuesday, he added. In the centre, government offices, hospitals and markets reopened.