Beating ISIS in battle leaves bigger test for Iraq
Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilisation units patrol the streets in Tikrit, Iraq, on April 4, 2015. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images
BAGHDAD - Iraq won the battle to retake the city of Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), backed by a coalition of the unlikely in Iranian advisers, Shiite militias, and U.S.-led airstrikes, but the country now faces what could be its most important battle: Winning the support of the Sunni.
Sunni tribes played a key role during the U.S. occupation fighting back al Qaeda in Iraq, ISIS' predecessor, and their distrust of Baghdad's Shiite-led government eased the extremists' takeover last summer. But as Tikrit now sits in ruins, still patrolled by fractious Shiite militias, the powerful Sunni tribes remain as distrustful as ever as further offensives in their heartland loom.
The government "needs those local tribes to secure the territory and hold the fort until government function is restored in these areas," said Sajad Jiyad, a senior researcher at al-Bayan Center for Studies and Planning in Baghdad. "The government needs to make sure that everyone who fights today has a future in Iraq tomorrow - and not just to find a short-term military solution today and forget about them later."
Sunni grievances mounted during the eight-year rule of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, widely seen as pursuing sectarian policies. Al-Maliki responded to rising Sunni protests with a violent crackdown, further stirring dissent. By December 2013, security forces withdrew from Ramadi after dismantling a protest camp, allowing ISIS militants ultimately to take it over.
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When ISIS swept across a third of Iraq last summer, many Sunnis initially greeted them as liberators. Analysts believe members of Saddam's outlawed Baath Party, stacked largely with Sunnis, also aided the extremists.
The few Sunni tribes that stood up against ISIS have paid a heavy price. In the Salahuddin town of Duluiyah, a mass grave holds the remains of 150 people from the al-Jabour tribe, killed by the militants in December. The militants also killed more than 200 men, women and children from the Sunni Al Bu Nimr tribe in Anbar province in November. The mass killings offered a stark warning to others considering aiding the government.
With Tikrit taken, Sunni residents in ISIS-held Anbar province, home to Fallujah, and Nineveh province, home to Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, expect the Iraqi offensive to now turn its attention to their regions. But many remain fearful of both ISIS, as well as the Shiite militias involved in the Iraqi offensive.
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Beating ISIS in battle leaves bigger test for Iraq