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JALAWLA, Iraq, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Yousif Ibrahim no longer travels by night along the roads around his hometown of Jalawla in northeastern Iraq. He fears getting caught up in attacks by Islamic State.

"The police and army don't come into our area much anymore. If they do, they get shot at by militants," said the 25-year-old, who sells fish for a living in a nearby market.

Nearly three years after the group lost its final enclave, Islamic State fighters are re-emerging as a deadly threat, aided by the lack of central control in many areas, according to a dozen security officials, local leaders and residents in northern Iraq.

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Islamic State is far from the formidable force it once was, but militant cells often operating independently have survived across a swathe of northern Iraq and northeastern Syria, and in recent months they have launched increasingly brazen attacks.

"Daesh (Islamic State) isn't as powerful as it was in 2014," said Jabar Yawar, a senior official in the Peshmerga forces of Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdistan region.

"Its resources are limited and there's no strong joint leadership," he told Reuters in the city of Sulaimaniya. "But as long as political disputes aren't solved, Daesh will come back."

Some fear that could be starting to happen.

In late January, Islamic State carried out one of its deadliest attacks against the Iraqi army for years, killing 11 soldiers in a town near Jalawla, according to security sources.

The same day, its militants stormed a prison in Syria under the control of U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in an attempt to free inmates loyal to the group.

It was the biggest attack by Islamic State since the collapse of its self-declared caliphate in 2019. At least 200 prison inmates and militants were killed, as well as 40 Kurdish troops, 77 prison guards and four civilians.

Officials and residents in northern Iraq and eastern Syria lay much of the blame on rivalries between armed groups. When Iraqi, Syrian, Iranian and U.S.-led forces declared Islamic State beaten, they faced off against each other across the territory it had ruled.

Now Iran-backed militias attack U.S. forces. Turkish forces bomb Kurdish separatist militants. A territorial dispute rumbles on between Baghdad and Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

The tensions are undermining security and good governance, causing confusion that Islamic State once thrived on.

For Ibrahim, that means crossing checkpoints manned variously by Iraqi soldiers and Shi'ite Muslim paramilitaries to get to work in a town controlled until a few years ago by Kurds.

The remote farmland between each military outpost is where Islamic State militants hide out, according to local officials.

A similar pattern plays out across the 400-mile corridor of mountains and desert through northern Iraq and into Syria where Islamic State once dominated.

Towns like Jalawla bear the scars of fierce fighting five or so years ago - buildings reduced to rubble and scarred with bullet holes. Banners honouring slain commanders from different armed groups jostle for space in town squares.

IRAQI DISPUTES

In some parts of Iraq where Islamic State operates, the main dispute is between the government in Baghdad and the autonomous northern Kurdish region, home to huge deposits of oil and strategic territory that both sides claim.

The jihadists' deadliest attacks in Iraq in recent months have taken place in those areas. Dozens of soldiers, Kurdish fighters and residents have been killed in violence that local officials blamed on militants loyal to the group.

According to Yawar, Islamic State fighters use the no-man's-land between Iraqi army, Kurdish and Shi'ite militia checkpoints to regroup.

"The gaps between the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga are sometimes 40 km (25 miles) wide," he said.

Mohammed Jabouri, an Iraqi army commander in the province of Salahuddin, said the militants tended to operate in groups of 10-15 people.

A girl walks near a building destroyed during past fighting with Islamic State militants, in the old city of Mosul, Iraq February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily

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Because of the lack of agreement over territorial control, there are areas where neither the Iraqi army nor Kurdish forces can enter to pursue them, he added.

"That's where Daesh is active," he told Reuters by telephone.

Iraqi state paramilitary forces aligned with Iran in theory coordinate with the Iraqi army, but some local officials say that does not always happen.

"The problem is that local commanders, the army and the paramilitaries ... sometimes don't recognise each other's authority," said Ahmed Zargosh, mayor of Saadia, a town in a disputed area.

"It means Islamic State militants can operate in the gaps."

Zargosh lives outside the town he administers, saying he fears assassination by Islamic State militants if he stays there at night.

SYRIA AND THE BORDERS

Islamic State militants at the other end of the corridor of contested territory, in Syria, are taking advantage of the confusion to operate in sparsely populated areas, according to some officials and analysts.

"Fighters (are) entering villages and towns at night and having complete free rein to operate, raid for food, intimidate businesses and extort 'taxes' from the local population," said Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think-tank.

"They've got many more local fissures, be they ethnic, political, sectarian, to exploit to their advantage."

Syrian government forces and Iran-backed militias hold territory to the west of the Euphrates river and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces are stationed to its east, including where the prison attack occurred.

The picture on the Iraqi side of the frontier area is no less complex.

Soldiers and fighters aligned with Iran, Turkey, Syria and the West control different segments of land, with separate checkpoints sometimes just a few hundred feet apart.

Iran and its proxy militias seek to maintain control of Iraqi-Syrian border crossings that are Tehran's gateway to Syria and Lebanon, according to Western and Iraqi officials.

U.S. officials blame those militias for attacking the 2,000 or so American troops stationed in Iraq and Syria fighting Islamic State. Tehran has not commented on whether Iran is involved.

Turkey, meanwhile, launches drone strikes from bases in northern Iraq against Kurdish separatist militants operating on either side of the border.

COLLAPSE OF THE CALIPHATE

At the peak of its power from 2014-2017, Islamic State ruled over millions of people and claimed responsibility for or inspired attacks in dozens of cities around the world.

Its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his caliphate over a quarter of Iraq and Syria in 2014 before he was killed in a raid by U.S. special forces in northwest Syria in 2019 as the group collapsed. read more

Armed forces in northern Iraq and northeast Syria say that the sheer number of groups, all enemies of Islamic State, would squash any resurgence.

In the wake of the prison assault, the U.S.-led military coalition fighting Islamic State said in a statement that recent attacks had ultimately made it weaker.

Not all local communities are convinced.

"After the Syria prison attack, we're scared Daesh could come back," said Hussein Suleiman, a government worker in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, which Islamic State overran in 2014 and where it slaughtered thousands of members of the Yazidi minority.

"Islamic State came from Syria last time. Iraqi troops and Kurdish forces were here then too, but they fled."

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Reporting by John Davison, additional reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman, Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, Ali Sultan in Jalawla and Sulaimaniya, Iraq, Dominic Evans in Istanbul; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Samia Nakhoul

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Islamic State hits back, aided by power vacuum in Iraq and Syria - Reuters

BAGHDAD, 2 February 2022. Fourchildren have died - threeboys and onegirl - and two childrenhave been maimed over the last week, as a result of incidents related to explosive ordnances in two locations in Iraq. UNICEF expresses its deep sorrow and condolences to the childrens families, friends, and communities.

Tragically, as reported in aUNICEF statementlast August, this is not an isolated loss of childrens lives.In 2021, 52 children were killed and 73 were maimed by explosive remnants of war (ERW) and unexploded ordnance. Stronger concerted efforts are needed to reduce the increasing impact of these explosives, especially on boys, as the number of children casualties grew 67 per cent compared to 2020 (79 children for that year, including 61 boys.)

These events occurred in Babel province and Baghdad and happened while children were doing daily chores, such as collecting wood. UNICEF reminds all stakeholders that the need to uphold child safety must remain the primary consideration in all contexts. ERW continues to be a primary reason for civilian casualties, with children being especially vulnerable their smaller size makes them more likely to receive the full impact of the blast, making it even more lethal.

UNICEF continues to work on providing victim assistance, provide referral services to medical treatment and psychosocial support when needed.

UNICEF urges all parties to accelerate every effort to clear existing mines and unexploded ordnance and promote victim assistance, and to uphold childrens right to a safe and protective environment.

UNICEF also urges the Government of Iraq and the donor community to support the scale-up and provision of Explosive Ordnance Risk Education activities so that children and other community members receive explosive ordnance risk education in schools and communities in all areas previously affected by conflict in Iraq.

Continued here:
Four children killed by explosive ordnance in Iraq - UNICEF

TEHRAN - An Iraqi analyst says that Iraqs history has shown that none of its neighbors would stand with the Iraqi people in its woes but Iran.

The recent experience in Iraq has proven, beyond a shadow of doubt, that nobody stands with the Iraqi people in its dark days but Iran as a strong neighbor and benevolent country, Ali Fahim tells the Tehran Times.

The Iraqis felt this stance during the days of the unjust siege, which was imposed by all the neighboring countries that were claiming to be friendly states, and no window was opened for the Iraqis except Iran, Fahim explains.Following is the text of the interview:

Q: After the fall of the Baathist regime in Iraq and removal of stumbling blocks that had hampered rapprochement between the Iranian and Iraqi peoples, voices have emerged to drive a wedge between the two nations and demonize the Islamic Republic. Who is behind these efforts?

A: This propaganda has been practiced widely, clearly and tangibly against the Islamic Republic of Iran in Iraqi, Arab, Zionist, American and British media outlets since the success of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and especially after 2003 with the end of Saddam's Baathist rule.

With a simple extrapolation, we find that the word Iran is mentioned in the media affiliated with Saudi Arabia and the Emirates more than any other word and at a very large rate per day.

For example, you would not find a daily news program in which Iran is not mentioned as an evil player.

Al-Arabiya, Al-Hadath, and Sky News channels, and Al-Sharqiya and Dijla Channels follow the same policy, which target the Shia society in the center and south of Iraq.

There are other channels funded by Saudi Arabia and the Emirates and even established to fuel the flame of sectarian war, such as the Safa and Wesal channels and the Egyptian Salafi channels.

These parties tried to reap the fruits of war against ISIS in which the great positive role of Iran and its support for the Iraqi people in the face of the takfiri attacks by ISIS and its sisters were clarified.

The enemies of Iraq fathomed out the great strategic depth that Iran represents for Iraq, especially after its support by all material and moral means.

To that end, it was necessary to drive a wedge between Iranian and Iraqi peoples and to ruin the image of Iran as a true ally of Iraq in order to isolate it.

The first step was launching an informational campaign with unprecedented pressure, which was represented in the so-called October revolution. Although it attracted the youth masses with the slogans of fighting corruption, fighting unemployment, and demanding services, today none of these slogans are on the table but fighting Iran.

We saw such a clear effort in mobilizing and fueling anti-Iran sentiments when the football match between Iran and Iraq took place. Websites, channels, and discussions addressed the match as if it was a war.

And we saw how they called for the American, British, and Canadian ambassadors to play a role against Iran far from their diplomatic missions.

Q: Iran says that it is upholding the idea of regional resistance which is a comprehensive Islamic project that includes everyone Sunnis, Shias, Christians - while Arab channels are trying to portray Iran as a country that supports sectarianism that splits the Islamic ummah. What is your view?

A: All this demonization of the Islamic Republic of Iran is because of its position, its care, and the strategic depth of the axis of resistance. If Iran had abandoned the axis of resistance and its ideology or adopted normalization of ties with Israel as most countries in the region did, we would have seen Iran portrayed as an angel in the Arab media, a friend, and an ally.

This fierce attack against Iran is due to its rejection of normalization of ties with the Zionist regime, but in order to justify this hostility for the Sunni Arab public, Iran is depicted as a sectarian force.That is all to laugh at the nave people who care about the sectarian differences, otherwise, Iran supports Sunni Hamas and Sunni Islamic Jihad in Palestine as it supports all liberation movements against tyranny and arrogance in the world, even from non-Muslim countries.

If Iran were aligned with the American-Zionist policies, sectarianism and hostility against it would have disappeared, and that is why Iran was the police of the (Persian) Gulf in Shahs era.

Q: Do you think the tendencies of some Shia groups in Iraq that want to demonize Iran are in the interest of Iraq and its security and stability?

A: The recent experience in Iraq has proven, beyond a shadow of doubt, that nobody stands with the Iraqi people in its dark days but Iran as a strong neighbor and benevolent country.

The Iraqis felt this stance during the days of the unjust siege, which was imposed by all the neighboring countries that were claiming to be friendly states, and no window was opened for the Iraqis except Iran.

And after 2003, these states also closed their diplomatic doors and were reticent in dealing with the new political reality in Iraq, while Iran welcomed the new government and political reality in Iraq.

After the rise of ISIS and the collapse of Iraqi Army, Iran took a great stand at the hands of the martyred leader, General Qassem Soleimani; Iran opened its arsenals and supplied Iraq with military equipment, experts, and fighters, and general Soleimani went to Lebanon to bring commanders and field military experts to deal with ISIS, while Iraqis were ignorant of this type of war.

Soleimani led the battlefields with Iraqi leader Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis to close this treacherous page of history. General Soleimani was assassinated in Iraq, and his blood was shed on the soil of Iraq.

All these positions prove that standing with the Arab campaign against the Islamic Republic and aligning with the plots engineered by the hostile media is a loss for Iraq first before it is a loss for Iran.

Iraq is the one that needs Iran, not the opposite, and the anti-Iran groups are the losers. The alignment with the anti-Iran Arab project is in fact in line with the Zionist project and the project of normalization of ties with Israel in the region.

Those in charge of such a policy bet on the ignorance of many of these naive political groups and their emotional and unconscious behaviors.

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Nobody stands with Iraq in its dark days except Iran: Iraqi expert - Tehran Times

DUBAI: Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was greeted by hundreds of fans during a visit to Expo 2020 Dubai for a Q&A session at the sites Al-Wasl plaza, state news agency WAM reported.

The Manchester United forward and Portuguese international discussed his journey as a football player, and praised Dubai for being unique and different.

Dubai always brings something to the table, unique and different, he said.

Ronaldo is believed to be spending the international break in Dubai with his family, the WAM report said.

The five-time Ballon dOr winner was impressed by the expo, according to local media.

He said: It is unbelievably impressive. Bringing 192 nations with their culture and traditions under one roof is very exciting.

Ronaldo advised fans to take care of their physical and mental health. I am fit because I take care of my body. Do everything that makes your body and mind healthy, he said.

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Mercedes owned by King Faisal of Iraq up for sale in the US - Arab News

Iraqs health sector is in dire need of training and support to ensure it can counter the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said.

Health authorities have recorded a surge in Covid-19 cases in recent days. Medics are struggling to meet the publics healthcare demands following years of war and instability that has depleted the sector.

Iraq is better prepared when compared to previous waves but it isnt enough. The health sector has plenty of biomed equipment but they dont have enough trained medical staff, Dr Shazeer Majeed, MSF medical co-ordinator in Iraq told The National.

So there's no point in having so many machines, he said.

Daily rates have decreased in the past week, with 6,550 new cases reported on Tuesday and 16 new deaths.

The country has recorded a total of 2.2 million infected cases and above 24,000 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.

MSF has identified that anaesthetist doctors are the ones who are managing ICU departments in hospitals in Baghdad, but Mr Majeed said it required qualified medical doctors as well as highly trained nurses to manage complicated cases.

The ICU requires a multidisciplinary, patient-centred approach. Iraqs health sector needs highly trained nurses, physiotherapists and mental health support, he said.

Many Covid-19 patients come to hospital only when their condition is highly critical. They either receive some medical care or oxygen therapy, which, Dr Majeed said, required highly trained medical staff.

The late arrival of the patient or delay in seeking specialised medical care has been a real challenge, he said.

However, MSF is providing training for as many healthcare workers as possible in this regard.

Dr Hassan Ali, from Al Karkh General Hospital, said the lack of public awareness for health measures intensified the struggles of medics.

There is a limitation of health services in general but on top we have a population that doesnt really take into consideration any of the Covid-19 health measures, Dr Ali told The National.

This is one of the main reasons why there is a spike in cases recently, the 38-year-old said.

The surge was driven largely by public apathy towards the virus. Many routinely flout virus-related restrictions, refusing to wear face masks and continuing to hold large public gatherings.

We are struggling, we need support from all aspects, we have very little response from the government to preserve the health of individuals and society, he said.

Even though Iraq has a mandatory vaccination programme, the coverage is low with only a little more than 9 million of the 40 million population vaccinated.

There Is a lot of hesitancy in terms of vaccination, said Dr Majeed.

He said MSF was working in areas that had a low vaccination rate.

Each sub-district in Baghdad has its own reasons for this, he said, adding that it could be related to religious or cultural reasons.

MSF is attempting to identify the reasons for vaccine hesitancy in a given geographical area and trying to target the population with that reason, Dr Majeed said.

This makes it difficult to approach the problem and to overcome it, to open people's minds as to why they should get the vaccine basically, he said.

MSF will have to tailor the messages to the population of the sub-district or your target population, Dr Majeed said.

Iraqis do not understand how important it is to get vaccinated, Sura Al Rawi, a general practitioner at Baghdad Hospital said.

"We are not only trying to convince people to get the shot but we are attempting to inform them of its benefits but no one seems to believe us," she told The National.

Ms Al Rawi said the health ministry needed to do more to ensure public awareness was spread throughout the country.

"Everyone needs to know the necessity of this, we've lost many lives. but we have to do more to save the rest," she said.

Iraqs Health Ministry has repeatedly tried to reassure people that the vaccines are not harmful, but this has not convinced over half of the population who have long-standing distrust of the government.

Updated: February 2nd 2022, 5:59 PM

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Staff shortages threaten Iraq's health sector amid third Covid-19 wave - The National