Author Topic: The Militias Defending Iraq From Islamic State  (Read 648 times)

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Offline EC

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The Militias Defending Iraq From Islamic State
« on: December 17, 2014, 08:55:03 am »
Well worth a read, to give some idea of the horrible muddle going on.

Down a dusty backstreet in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Karada this month, I met Sheikh Raad Al Kafaji, a former Iraqi army officer specialising in artillery, and a veteran fighter from the days of the Iran-Iraq war.

He is head of the al Kafaji tribe and a commander in the Kata'ib Hezbollah militia, one of the Shia militias at the forefront of the fight against Isis in Iraq.

After the fall of Mosul in July, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani issued a religious edict (fatwa) calling on Iraqi "citizens to defend the country, its people, the honour of its citizens, and its sacred places".

That is, to come defend their religion in a holy war against Isis, also known as Islamic State.

Sheikh Raad says in the initial days after Sistani's fatwa, men as old as 60 came to his small offices begging to fight to hold back Isis and Sunni-led insurgents.

According to Iraqi deputy national security adviser, Safa Hussein al-Sheikh, the Kata'ib Hezbollah militia, founded in the months leading up to the 2003 US invasion, is known for being smaller and more organised than the other Shia militias -- and is considered highly secretive and adept, even by Iraqi intelligence standards.

"In the past, they had focused more on American targets -- sophisticated, lethal, organised attacks that were not penetrated by the American or Iraqi intelligence," says al-Sheikh.

When I visit, the 58-year-old Sheikh Raad sits wearily in his office wearing battle fatigues and several jewelled garnet and turquoise rings.

With him is his young fourth wife, who surprisingly has her dark hair uncovered, and is heavily made up, dressed in tight trousers and high heels.

She wants to film his conversation on her mobile phone.

The sheikh sees no irony in the fact that his current financial backer, Iran, was his former mortal enemy.

"Saddam imposed that war [the Iran-Iraq war] on the Shia people in Iraq and Iran," he says. "It was Saddam's fault. Not the fault of Iran."

He says Kata'ib Hezbollah has about 4,000 fighters (Iraqi intelligence puts the figure closer to 1,000) that are "experienced from fighting in Amerli, Samara, but also have past experience fighting with Hezbollah in Syria".

He himself goes back and forth to Syria, largely to protect Shia shrines near Damascus.

Much of it is done around the town of Sayyidah Zaynab -- "Lady Zaynab" -- a southern Damascus suburb that has a Shia shrine of the same name.

Some of his men, he says, were paid up to €560 a day by Iran to fight in Syria, but in Iraq they are getting far less, although he says Iran is arming his men with weapons -- AK-47s; 12.7mm heavy machine-gun; and PKCs, a lighter, 7.62mm, machine-gun used in many of the former-Soviet Bloc and Middle Eastern countries.

"Here, we are fighting for justice -- for our faith -- not for money. And don't forget there is a big difference between Hezbollah in Iran and Hezbollah in Iraq. Philosophically, we have the same enemy -- Daish [Isis] and Israel -- but we are fighting here for justice."

To understand the presence of Shia militias in Iraq today, and the increasing sway of Iran, you have to go back to the legacy of the mass graves.

Shortly after Saddam Hussein, a Sunni who had systematically Shi'itesrepressed the majority Shi'ites for decades by cracking down on their political parties and crushing Shia movements, fell from power in April, 2003, human rights workers and US investigators began exhuming graves where thousands of Shi'ites and ethnic Kurds had suddenly disappeared.

It is unclear how many Shias died during the Saddam years, but the figures range from 400,000-700,000 people.

One grave near Baghdad alone held nearly 15,000 bodies.

It is believed that up to 60,000 Shias disappeared from Baghdad during those years of terror, and ended up in pits.

Years later, when Saddam was finally gone, relatives would stand at the open graves, desperately trying to find something that could link them to their lost.

The day after Saddam fell, with the city of Bagdad in chaos, it was finally possible to put together pieces of the puzzle.

Read more: http://www.aina.org/news/20141217025620.htm
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Offline ChrisChristie4Pres

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Re: The Militias Defending Iraq From Islamic State
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2014, 09:08:00 am »
with falling oil prices the region's leaders might have some angst about how it will stabilize itself 

Offline EC

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Re: The Militias Defending Iraq From Islamic State
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2014, 09:31:12 am »
It has thrown another cat among the pigeons, for sure.

Saudi will survive, Iran won't. I can see this nasty proxy war in Syria and Iraq involving the principals before long.
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