![]() Over the past few months, Hashd al-Shaabi has been the centre of debate in Iraq on a social and political level. The likely motivation is that Hashd al-Shaabi recognises that the fight against Isis in the Sunni districts of Tikrit will be a massive political win. A victory in Tikrit will boost Hashd al-Shaabi immensely in Iraq, politically, militarily and financially. The aim of the campaign seems to be more political than tactically sound. Second, Shia militias have been warning they would reserve special ire for Sunni “collaborators” – the type of language Iraqis of all sects and ethnicities have grown to identify as having cleansing connotations. First, the Tikrit offensive has been portrayed by many Shia militias as revenge for the Camp Speicher massacre committed last summer, when Isis killed at least 1,566 Iraqi air force cadets as government forces attempted to retake Tikrit from the group. These fears are heightened by two main things promoted by Hashd al-Shaabi. Many fear such acts will take place on a larger scale during the offensive, which is likely to take weeks, if not months. Instead of highlighting that Tikrit’s civilians have almost completely fled the city, the government should focus on ensuring no similar reprisals against civilians by these notorious militias are committed in Tikrit.Ī video circulated over the past week purportedly showed pro-government forces killing a boy. Hashd al-Shaabi has a track record of human rights abuses and sectarian and ethnic cleansing, as documented by Human Rights Watch. ![]() The claims with regard to civilians are particularly alarming. Any Sunni forces participating, notwithstanding their numbers, take a back seat at best. Hashd al-Shaabi, the umbrella organisation for Iranian-backed Shia militias, put together in the wake of Isis’s takeover of Mosul in June to serve as a de facto replacement for the army in the fight against the terror group, is leading the offensive. It also claims that Tikrit is all but empty of civilians.īut these claims are not entirely accurate. The Iraqi government portrays it as a national effort, led by the security forces and including thousands of Sunni tribal fighters. That latter fact leaves many question marks about the campaign. It is also the first major effort led by pro-government forces without consulting the United States and members of the international coalition. The offensive in Tikrit is therefore a critical development that will be monitored closely and nervously by almost everyone involved in the conflict. Despite the American-led air strikes since the summer, the militant group has faced little pressure inside what can be described as its heartlands, such as Mosul, Falluja, Raqqa and Deir Ezzor. The campaign, which entered it’s second week on Sunday, is the first serious attempt to dislodge Isis from a Sunni area it has governed since the group’s military blitz in Iraq last June. “The numbers are overwhelming,” he said.īut there are ominous signs that the campaign faces many perils and there are fears that its impact may unleash fresh waves of sectarian conflict, as well as long-term rebalancing of political forces in the region. On Saturday no less a figure than General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff and so America’s top officer, declared that the combined force of Iranian-backed militias and Iraqi government troops was likely to prevail against Islamic State forces in the battle and that the Islamist militants would be pushed out of Saddam Hussein’s home town. T he military offensive against Isis forces in Tikrit, Iraq, is shaping up to be one of the most decisive moments in the profound struggle unfolding across the region. ![]()
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