As the Iraqi army backed by leading tribal chiefs in the western Al-Anbar province battle to reclaim the crucial city of Fallujah from Al Qaeda forces in Iraq, the question is: How did this all happen? The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham or Levant (ISIS) – which is inspired by the terrorist jihadist group Al-Qaeda - have taken over Fallujah and parts of Ramadi in Al-Anbar late in December, 2013. Black flags were hoisted over police stations and government buildings as the flabbergasted local police force fled the scene, proving unequipped and ill-prepared to stand up for the well-organised ISIS with its military power. Fallujah's fall has invoked the spirit of the Sahwat, a group of Sunni tribesmen that joined forces with US troops and rebelled against Al Qaeda from 2006 to 2009. The Sahwat - whom until recently had been neglected by Iraq's Shiite-led government- are today leading the battalion while two divisions of Iraq's national army provide aerial support, and equipment including tanks. "We do not accept Da'ish [the Arabic acronym for ISIS] and we do not accept to be second-class citizens," said Faleh Al Issawi, deputy head of the provincial council of Anbar, by phone from Ramadi. "We want to be treated as Iraqi citizens, we want the government to treat us like the Iraqis of Kerbala, Nassriya and Baghdad," he added, referring to Iraq Shiites in other cities especially in the south. It is the first time insurgents have controlled territory in Al-Anbar province since 2004, when they were driven out by US-backed Iraqi troops. Iraq has witnessed a bloody 2013 with more than 8,000 people killed in a wave of bombings and assassinations, according to the United Nations estimates, amidst rising tensions between Sunnis and Shias. The desert province of Al-Anbar is the largest in Iraqi (approximately constitutes one-third of the country) and borders Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It has become a ripe breeding ground for ISIS to recruit disgruntled militants and mount attacks across Iraq especially after anti-government protests by tens of thousands of Sunnis started in late 2012 against what they perceived as government marginalisation and discrimination. (Iraq's Sunnis are believed to make up some 53 per cent of the country's population. The Shias dispute this, saying that Shias represent up to 65 per cent of the population. There is no official census.)
Sahwat members- who had been a leading force behind the US counter-insurgency efforts –were neglected after promises of integration into the police and army. The result has been a lack of cooperation between the Sahwat and the central government on security issues.
Since the withdrawal of all US troops in 2011, communication between the Sahwat and officials at the US Department of State and the country's embassy in Baghdad had stopped entirely, with officials preferring only to deal with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki and his government. Communication only restarted after militants of ISIS succeeded in two major break jails in Taji and Abu Ghraib that triggered Interpol warrants and alarmed intelligence bells across the region and the far beyond in the West. "In my opinion, the withdrawal of US forces was a wrong policy," Mr Al Issawi said. "The Sunni leadership was pressing for independence and self-governance on nationalist terms but they were not ready to take over the country. Today, much of the equipment from the US is not in the control of the police and security forces (in Al-Anbar), but in the hands of militia groups, including Da'ish." US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the United States will provide support to the Iraqi government but will not return to the country. "We're not contemplating putting boots on the ground," Kerry told reporters in Jerusalem during a Middle East tour. "This is their fight, but we're going to help them in their fight." For more than a year, Sunni-led protests erupted with locals of Al-Anbar demanding reforms that would put them on equal footing with their Shia compatriots. Mounting pressure had forced Mr Maliki, a Shiite, to pursue negotiations with Sunni tribal leaders.
But negotiations failed after Shia hardliners expressed concerns over what they saw was a Baathist coup in the making when a video of Saddam-loyalist Izzat Ibrahim Al Douri, the King of Clubs in the US Deck of 55 most wanted Iraqis, surfaced in March of last year. In a sudden twist of the tale, Maliki demanded protesters to dismantle their tents in Ramadi, claiming that they had become a base for Al Qaeda. Then he ordered the break up by force the protest camp following a deal with local police, religious leaders and leading tribal sheikhs. Separately, security forces raided the home of Ahmed Al Alwani, a Sunni Arab MP of Ramadi, who supports the anti-government protests. His arrest sparked clashes that killed his brother, several body guards and security members. The clashes that erupted during the removal of the tents and the raid of Mr Alwani's Ramadi home paved the way for militants to move in. "Al Qaeda is a really a threat and their plan was to establish an Islamic emirate both in Syria and Iraq, a governable area that would pose a major threat not just for Iraq but for the whole region," said Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, in a telephone interview from Baghdad. "‘Thus, a move by the tribes and forces of Iraq has averted this event." In statements to reporters, deputy spokeswoman for the State Department Marie Harf said: "We are working with the Iraqi government to support those tribes in every possible way. We are also in contact with tribal leaders from Anbar province who are showing great courage as they fight to eject these terrorist groups from their cities." President Nouri al Maliki yesterday warned armed forces not to attack at civilians. "Every battle has martyrs and people who get killed. But so far the amount of people who have died have been few in comparison," Mr Al Issawi said. "My fear is that Maliki's campaign on Da'ish, his battle in Anbar, is going to make him look like a national hero."
