Thursday, September 06, 2007
The armies of Iraq
Security
(Al Jazeera) - Four years ago the fighting in Iraq was just beginning. The armed group al-Qaeda in Iraq did not even exist and Sunni and Shia groups were working together against the US-led forces. Three years ago, sectarian divisions escalated into a battle some believe has reached civil war proportions.
Now the fighters have turned against each other. This year has seen Shia infighting on the streets of Iraqi cities such as Karbala and Sunni armed groups fighting to keep al-Qaeda out of their regions. In a series of reports, Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid looks at the new reality of Iraq's many armies.
Part One - Sunni armed groups
Sunni armed groups are a complicated web of alliances of Iraqi nationalists, Islamists, former Iraqi army officers and a few Baathists. For the past four years, the groups have become better organised and more popular among disaffected Sunnis. They see them as a legitimate resistance which also protects civilians from foreign troops and Shia militia death squads. These days most of the Sunni fighters are Iraqis, and that means the US and Iraqi governments have no choice but to talk to them. Sources say negotiations are under way, but until Sunni fighters feel their role in the future is recognised they are unlikely to give up their arms.
Click here to watch Part One
Part Two - Shia militias
The Mahdi Army is said to have morethan 60,000 militiamen [AFP]The conflict between Iraq's Shia rivals has been ongoing since 2003. The Jaish al-Mahdi, or Mahdi Army, is loyal to Shia leader Muqtada al Sadr. Said to have 60,000 men in its ranks, it is by far the biggest militia in Iraq. Its rival, the Badr organisation, is the military wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, previously known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. This influential Shia party was formed in Iran during the presidency of Saddam Hussein and its leaders were exultant after the US invasion.
Click here to watch Part Two
Part Three - Iraq's security forces
In the remote desert areas of Iraq, US soldiers are training Iraqi recruits to form the nation's new army and police force. But outside the cocoon of a training camp, the newly graduated security forces must tackle one of the most challenging environments in the world. The US is currently allied with some tribes in its fight against al-Qaeda. Incorporating Sunnis would ease some of the sectarian tensions. But the main question remains: When will the security forces be really able to deal with the challenges of Iraq?
Click here to watch Part Three
Part Four - The US army
They were supposedly welcomed as liberators who would bring freedom and democracy to Iraq. But the most powerful army in the world was not ready for handmade road-side bombs that have killed hundreds of soldiers so far and maimed thousands more. It blamed all the attacks in these early stages on al-Qaeda and disgruntled members of Saddam's former government. But now, on the eve of the report by General David Petraeus, head of US forces in Iraq, into the success of the recent troop "surge", the US presence in Iraq is already at the heart of the presidential debate in the US and withdrawing or staying has become a national debate.
Click here to watch Part Four
Part Five - Al-Qaeda
The Bush administration is building its new case to stay in Iraq as a war against al-Qaeda. However, it is not the largest group fighting today, nor is it the one that carries out most attacks - only 15 per cent in the first half of 2007 according to the US military. However, it is behind the vast majority of devastating car bombs and suicide attacks which fuel the sectarian war.
Now the fighters have turned against each other. This year has seen Shia infighting on the streets of Iraqi cities such as Karbala and Sunni armed groups fighting to keep al-Qaeda out of their regions. In a series of reports, Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid looks at the new reality of Iraq's many armies.
Part One - Sunni armed groups
Sunni armed groups are a complicated web of alliances of Iraqi nationalists, Islamists, former Iraqi army officers and a few Baathists. For the past four years, the groups have become better organised and more popular among disaffected Sunnis. They see them as a legitimate resistance which also protects civilians from foreign troops and Shia militia death squads. These days most of the Sunni fighters are Iraqis, and that means the US and Iraqi governments have no choice but to talk to them. Sources say negotiations are under way, but until Sunni fighters feel their role in the future is recognised they are unlikely to give up their arms.
Click here to watch Part One
Part Two - Shia militias
The Mahdi Army is said to have morethan 60,000 militiamen [AFP]The conflict between Iraq's Shia rivals has been ongoing since 2003. The Jaish al-Mahdi, or Mahdi Army, is loyal to Shia leader Muqtada al Sadr. Said to have 60,000 men in its ranks, it is by far the biggest militia in Iraq. Its rival, the Badr organisation, is the military wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, previously known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. This influential Shia party was formed in Iran during the presidency of Saddam Hussein and its leaders were exultant after the US invasion.
Click here to watch Part Two
Part Three - Iraq's security forces
In the remote desert areas of Iraq, US soldiers are training Iraqi recruits to form the nation's new army and police force. But outside the cocoon of a training camp, the newly graduated security forces must tackle one of the most challenging environments in the world. The US is currently allied with some tribes in its fight against al-Qaeda. Incorporating Sunnis would ease some of the sectarian tensions. But the main question remains: When will the security forces be really able to deal with the challenges of Iraq?
Click here to watch Part Three
Part Four - The US army
They were supposedly welcomed as liberators who would bring freedom and democracy to Iraq. But the most powerful army in the world was not ready for handmade road-side bombs that have killed hundreds of soldiers so far and maimed thousands more. It blamed all the attacks in these early stages on al-Qaeda and disgruntled members of Saddam's former government. But now, on the eve of the report by General David Petraeus, head of US forces in Iraq, into the success of the recent troop "surge", the US presence in Iraq is already at the heart of the presidential debate in the US and withdrawing or staying has become a national debate.
Click here to watch Part Four
Part Five - Al-Qaeda
The Bush administration is building its new case to stay in Iraq as a war against al-Qaeda. However, it is not the largest group fighting today, nor is it the one that carries out most attacks - only 15 per cent in the first half of 2007 according to the US military. However, it is behind the vast majority of devastating car bombs and suicide attacks which fuel the sectarian war.
Labels: Al Qaeda, Iraq, Iraqi security forces, militants, security, Shia militias, Sunni armed groups, U.S. military
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
40 killed in raid on Sadr City
Security
(CNN) -- Forty people have been killed in a military raid and street fighting across Baghdad's Sadr City, the capital's volatile Shiite slum, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Wednesday.Iraqi and coalition troops overnight killed 32 militants in Sadr City -- most of them in an airstrike -- in an operation targeting a cell with alleged links to Iran, the U.S. military said. Twelve others were detained in the raid.
Separately, fighting broke out early Wednesday between U.S.-led coalition forces and Mehdi Army militiamen in Sadr City, leaving at least eight people dead and 10 wounded, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry. The U.S. military denied that civilians were among the casualties in the raid. "There were women and children in the area when we conducted the operation but none were killed in the airstrike," Army Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said, according to Reuters.
Some critics of al-Maliki, from the Shiite Dawa party, say he has been reluctant to take on other Shiite militants. Al-Maliki says the Iraqi military is targeting all insurgents, no matter what sect they hail from. There is a lot of support for Iran in Sadr City. And the targeted terrorist cell is suspected of bringing weapons and the bombs called an "explosively formed penetrators" from Iran to Iraq and of "bringing militants from Iraq into Iran for terrorist training," the U.S. military said.
The military said the raid was built on "a series of coordinated operations" that commenced with a raid in the southern Iraqi city of Amara in June. Amara is in Maysan province in the Shiite heartland and it borders Iran.
"Coalition forces continue to attack the supply chain of illicit materials being shipped from Iran," the military said.
The military was targeting an individual who "acts as a proxy between Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and an "the Iraqi EFP network." "Reports also indicate that he assists with the facilitation of weapons and EFP shipments into Iraq as well as the transfer of militant extremists to Iran for training."
Separately, fighting broke out early Wednesday between U.S.-led coalition forces and Mehdi Army militiamen in Sadr City, leaving at least eight people dead and 10 wounded, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry. The U.S. military denied that civilians were among the casualties in the raid. "There were women and children in the area when we conducted the operation but none were killed in the airstrike," Army Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said, according to Reuters.
Some critics of al-Maliki, from the Shiite Dawa party, say he has been reluctant to take on other Shiite militants. Al-Maliki says the Iraqi military is targeting all insurgents, no matter what sect they hail from. There is a lot of support for Iran in Sadr City. And the targeted terrorist cell is suspected of bringing weapons and the bombs called an "explosively formed penetrators" from Iran to Iraq and of "bringing militants from Iraq into Iran for terrorist training," the U.S. military said.
The military said the raid was built on "a series of coordinated operations" that commenced with a raid in the southern Iraqi city of Amara in June. Amara is in Maysan province in the Shiite heartland and it borders Iran.
"Coalition forces continue to attack the supply chain of illicit materials being shipped from Iran," the military said.
The military was targeting an individual who "acts as a proxy between Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and an "the Iraqi EFP network." "Reports also indicate that he assists with the facilitation of weapons and EFP shipments into Iraq as well as the transfer of militant extremists to Iran for training."
The street fighting between the Mehdi army and the troops lasted about three hours and was fought in various locations. It was not immediately known if those killed and wounded were civilians or members of the Mehdi Army -- the militia of populist anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who enjoys widespread support among Shiites in the eastern section of the capital.
The fighting came as Iraq's government moved up a vehicle ban for Baghdad from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday. The official said the ban, which was imposed 15 hours earlier than expected, surprised residents who were headed to work and told by Iraqi security forces to return home. The ban is part of an effort, the official said, to curtail potential bomb attacks targeting the thousands of Shiite pilgrims who are trekking to a major religious shrine in the northwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya for an annual religious commemoration Thursday.
The fighting came as Iraq's government moved up a vehicle ban for Baghdad from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday. The official said the ban, which was imposed 15 hours earlier than expected, surprised residents who were headed to work and told by Iraqi security forces to return home. The ban is part of an effort, the official said, to curtail potential bomb attacks targeting the thousands of Shiite pilgrims who are trekking to a major religious shrine in the northwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya for an annual religious commemoration Thursday.
Labels: Amarah, EFPs, Iran, Lt. Col Chris Garver, Mahdi Army, militants, Quds Force, raid, Sadr City
