Iraqis split over digging of security trenches

Author Adnan Abu Zeed Posted March 19, 2015
TranslatorTyler Huffman

In Jurf al-Sakhr, a region located approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Baghdad, which was liberated from the Islamic State (IS) by the Iraqi army on Oct. 25, there is a 45-kilometer-long (28-mile) trench that was dug by Babil’s provincial government on Feb. 21, 2014.

This trench separates the Shiite-majority city of Karbala (108 kilometers [67 miles] southwest of Baghdad) from the Sunni-majority city of Amiriyat al-Fallujah (40 kilometers [25 miles] west of Baghdad), in order to prevent IS members from infiltrating regions south of Baghdad. This trench is nine meters (29.5 feet) wide and eight meters (26 feet) deep, and is supplied by control towers and security cameras. In a visit to this trench, Al-Monitor met with Shiite soldier Ali al-Yasiri, who described the trench as “a two-meter-deep [6.5-foot] groove that cuts through agricultural land, as well as some barren land.” He noted that “the trench is necessary to protect the holy city of Karbala,” which is home to the shrines of Imams Hussein and Abbas. The shrines are two of the holiest Shiite pilgrimage sites in the world, and are visited by hundreds of thousands of Iranians annually.

The deputy head of the Shiite Endowments, Sami al-Masoudi, said Dec. 13 that the number of foreign pilgrims in 2014 reached 1.5 million visitors, mainly from Bahrain, Turkey, Europe and Saudi Arabia.

Suhaila Abbas, a member of the Babil provincial council, confirmed Yasiri’s statements. She told Al-Monitor, “The trench [was dug] to protect the residents of Jurf al-Sakhr and the city of Karbala from IS attacks.” She described IS as a “terrorist group” that seeks to “destroy the holy sites of Iraq’s Shiites.”

Salah Hassan, a general at the Iraqi Interior Ministry, agreed with both Yasiri and Abbas. He told Al-Monitor that, from a technical standpoint, the trench is “a practical barrier to prevent the infiltration of armed militants and explosives-laden cars from the Sunni province of Anbar — located to the north and west of the trench — to Shiite regions in Babil and Karbala located south of the trench.”

“Since IS members were defeated in the region, the number of attacks and car bombings in Baghdad and in regions south of Babil has significantly decreased,” he added.

In mid-February, Hassan Fedaam, a member of the Citizen Coalition’s security committee in Babil’s provincial council, said that the terrorist-operations rate dropped to zero in Babil.

Iraqi military sources confirmed that they had discovered in October a factory producing chlorine gas rockets, mortar launching pads and a facility for preparing explosives-laden cars in the region of Jurf al-Sakhr.

While some experts say the measures have been beneficial in terms of security, Oday al-Hajiri, the editor of Basra Newspaper, told Al-Monitor, “The plan to dig trenches to separate cities will have a negative impact on the unity of the country’s citizens.”

Hajiri said it is necessary to “halt work to dig trenches. There are other solutions to confront the security challenges, such as using intelligence agencies and strengthening the role of citizens in reporting on terrorism and crimes.”

In this regard, Hassan al-Salman, a writer, political analyst and former head of trustees for the Iraqi Media Network, told Al-Monitor, “Sectarianism is among the reasons for digging the trench, because it is present in the minds of some politicians.” Salman, however, did not name these politicians.

Yet writer and political analyst Karim Badr al-Hamdany supported the digging of such trenches. He told Al-Monitor the trenches are “a precise mechanism to thwart the movement of terrorists and their explosives-laden cars, which infiltrate via wooded areas and agricultural lands.”

“Yes … they resemble isolation barriers used during the spread of an epidemic, and they are very valuable in preventing the spread of the 'disease,'” he added.

Hamdany denied that these trenches “are related to sectarian separation, because tens of thousands of displaced Sunnis are spread throughout Shiite areas.” At the same time, Babil’s provincial government denies that there has been a demographic change in Jurf al-Sakhr.

The province of Kirkuk previously dug a trench, which was completed on Nov. 6, 2013. On May 23, 2013, Najamaddine Karim, the governor of Kirkuk, stated that the trench would “prevent the infiltration of armed groups into the city.”

The Kirkuk trench is 52 kilometers (32 miles) long, three meters (10 feet) wide and two meters deep. An earth berm has been erected, and the trench is supplied with surveillance cameras. It was dug on the western, eastern and southern parts (the Arab regions) of Kirkuk.

However, the Security and Defense Committee in the Iraqi parliament claimed that “the project to dig trenches around cities is very costly and harms the reputation of the security agencies, as it suggests that the latter are unable to provide security.”

In fact, the Kirkuk trench has been accused of being a racist project, as noted by Abdullah Sami al-Assi, the head of al-Arabiya List in the Kirkuk provincial council, which also includes Kurds and Turkmens.

At a news conference on April 16, 2013, Assi said, “The trench, dug in a crescent shape toward the southwest of the province where there are about 30 Arab villages, is akin to a message to the Arabs accusing them of being behind the terrorist attacks.”

In fact, these trenches are accompanied by concrete beams that separate areas within single cities from one another. Many Iraqis feel distressed at the sectarian divide that has become physically concrete in the form of trenches and isolated cities.

Writer and journalist Ahmed Jabbar Gharb told Al-Monitor that he hopes that “these trenches are temporary and will be removed when the security situation stabilizes.” Meanwhile, however, senior politicians are not sure whether this security will ever be achieved. President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Massoud Barzani told the German paper Bild am Sonntag on July 6 that “the division of Iraq must be achieved.”

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/03/iraq-digging-trenches-division-infiltration-islamic-state.html#ixzz3UxGTfglB