World Media on Iraq and the ISIS
Compiled by New Age Islam Edit Bureau
19 July, 2014
Articles:
Silent drama in Mosul
By Abdulhamit Bilici
‘Lebanonisation’ of Iraq
By Abdur Rahman Chowdhury
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Silent Drama in Mosul
By Abdulhamit Bilici
July 18, 2014
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forces invaded Turkey's Consulate General in Mosul, Iraq, on June 11, one day after they entered the city. It has been 37 days now since 49 Turkish people were taken hostage. Why were they kidnapped? We do not know. Where and how they are being held? This is unclear. When will they be released? It is forbidden to ask. This is called a silent drama.
The first signal of this grave development was a message written by Faruk Deniz, the vice consul. On June 6, he wrote on Twitter: “There are ongoing clashes between ISIL and Iraqi forces; may Allah give the people in Mosul patience.” And the next day, he wrote: “ISIL defines the Iraqi troops it has killed in Mosul as Safavid troops; it is important to note, as it reflects their perspective.” In a message he posted on July 8, it seems he sensed the danger that was coming: “Sunday is my first day at work and this thing called ISIL is depriving me of my sleep.”
Mosul Governor Atheel al-Nujaifi was also aware of the coming danger. When ISIL entered the city, he hid in different parts of the city to avoid confrontation and then fled to Arbil. The governor had been in touch with Consul General Öztürk Yılmaz. He told Al Jazeera Turk: “We had a phone conversation one day before the fall of Mosul. I asked him to tell Ankara that the situation was very bad there. Even though I told him that the situation was going bad, he responded by saying that Turkey should not retreat from Mosul at such a delicate time. They trusted the Iraqi army stationed at the Mosul airport, which was pretty close to them, and the joint operational forces. Come what may, they were confident that ISIL would not be able to take control of their area.” In fact, Yılmaz also noticed the risk and the danger; he destroyed the computers and confidential documents; but for some reason, he did not leave the building. From what journalist Murat Sabuncu wrote, we can see that Ankara sensed the danger and had been informed about the situation three days before the raid.
Well, what was the approach of the Foreign Ministry and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to the issue? Davutoğlu, who was travelling to New York for a meeting on the day ISIL invaded Mosul, wrote on Twitter 24 hours before the raid: “The proper measures have been taken for the security of our consulate general in Mosul. I thank the diplomatic staff and security forces in our consulate in Mosul for their dignified stance.”
This message, delivered despite serious warnings from Mosul and Ankara and recommendations for evacuation, was a sign of self-confidence; however, Davutoğlu had to confront grave criticism when the consulate was raided shortly after posting this message. When the consulate fell under ISIL's control, Davutoğlu decided to return Turkey immediately. On his way back, he told the journalists in New York: “No one should dare test Turkey's might and power. Any harm to our citizens will be met with a severe response.”
However, the information that Sabuncu revealed, and which Aydıntaşbaş confirmed via her sources, said something different. It was said that Davutoğlu responded to MİT's suggestion of an evacuation by saying that the Turkish flag should remain there.
The truth will be revealed eventually, but the result is obvious: 49 members of the diplomatic corps and consulate staff have been held hostage by ISIL for 37 days. The relatives of the hostages, who have been hearing the same thing repeated by government officials, are getting impatient. They have many concerns on their minds, including the worry that their relatives may be murdered or used as human shields.
The crisis management unit in the ministry is working tirelessly to rescue the hostages, but Turkey's hands are tied vis-à-vis the massacres committed by ISIL of Kurds and Turkmens. In addition, there is growing criticism and allegations that Ankara once supported this organization. Erdoğan's call for this group, which has mercilessly cut off people's heads, “Release the hostages if you are believers,” surprised many and shows that no significant progress has been made.
The immediate issue is to rescue the hostages. However, it is a huge scandal that the consulate was not evacuated in a city where even the governor was not safe. The unresolved matters remain unattended and unaddressed because of a broadcast ban on the subject which would never be seen in a democratic country experiencing a similar problem. However, we should, of course, pray for the safety of the hostages and hope that they will celebrate the coming Eid in their homes.
Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/abdulhamit-bilici/silent-drama-in-mosul_353473.html
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‘Lebanonisation’ of Iraq
By Abdur Rahman Chowdhury
July 19, 2014
It would take collective action by a regional coalition to neutralise ISIS but the coalition simply does not exist
One third of Iraq, the central region, is now controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a radical outfit involved in the insurgency in Syria. It captured Mosul in early June without resistance from the Iraqi army. Then it occupied the Beiji oil field and brought Diyala, Samara, Tikrit, Fallujah, Ramadhi and other cities in the region under its control. It tried to move into oil-rich Kirkuk but failed after fierce resistance by the Kurdish army, the Peshmerga. The Iraqi army reportedly disintegrated under the onslaught and Sunni soldiers led by their commanding officers defected to ISIS. Over $ 1.2 billion in US-made arms and ammunition fell into the hands of ISIS. The Shia segment of the Iraqi army, backed by Shia militias, is now trying to resist ISIS but with mixed success. Last week, a general of the Iraqi army was killed in the fighting. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS and one of the US army’s most wanted fugitives, has declared himself the ‘Caliph’ of the Sunni regions of Iraq and Syria. Baghdadi made the declaration in a grand mosque in Mosul last week in the presence of a big crowd.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s rise and declaration are ominous signals. He is projecting himself and ISIS as the counterpart of Hassan Nasrullah and Hezbollah of Lebanon. Hezbollah was established in the 1980s. It grew with the backing of Iran and Syria, and gradually became a stakeholder in Lebanon. It has representation in the Lebanese parliament and wields considerable influence in the politics of Lebanon. Southern Lebanon bordering Israel is virtually under its control. Hezbollah’s relentless fight against occupation compelled Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon, including the Bekaa Valley. In 2006, the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah triggered the massive Israeli bombing of Beirut and other parts of Lebanon. Though Israeli airstrikes caused colossal damage, it could not dislodge Hezbollah nor succeed in freeing the abducted soldiers.
After the expulsion of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) from Beirut, Syria deployed a few army brigades in Lebanon in the mid-1980s but, over the years, the Lebanese began to resent the Syrian army presence on their soil. The assassination of former Prime Minister (PM) Rafiq Hariri in 2004 sparked violent demonstrations all over Beirut and his acolytes accused Syria of orchestrating the assassination plot. Syrian troops were withdrawn from Lebanon the following year. The Druze, Maronites, Sunni Muslims have distinct stakes and there is a power sharing arrangement amongst different stakeholders. The power sharing agreements are observed more in the breach than in compliance, pushing the country to the precipice from time to time. Lebanon also has large numbers of Palestinians. Israel masterminded a killing spree in September 1982 for over 36 hours at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Between 700 and 3,500 Palestinians were murdered.
The seizure of almost one third of Iraq’s territory by ISIS has triggered renewed sectarian violence in and around Baghdad. About 1,000 people, including two prominent Sunni imams, have been killed and about a million people have been displaced. They are camped in the middle of deserts where temperatures range from 50 to 55 degrees Celsius. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to expel ISIS and seeks military assistance from the US, Russia and Iran. President Obama has ruled out sending troops to Iraq but has dispatched 150 marines to assist the evacuation of US citizens in Baghdad, if needed, and to train the Iraqi army. US surveillance over Iraqi air space has reportedly intensified and early this week Mosul came under severe airstrikes. While the US army has denied involvement in the airstrikes, Iran admitted losing a pilot in Iraq. Russia, in compliance with al-Maliki’s request, immediately provided six used fighter jets to the Iraqi army and more are on their way. It is unclear whether Iranian ground troops have arrived in Iraq. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia has deployed 300,000 troops along its border with Iraq.
Iraq’s northern Kurdish region has been quasi-independent since the Gulf War in 1992. The four million Kurds have their own government and maintain their own military. The collapse of the Iraqi army in the face of the ISIS attack allowed the Kurds to expand their territory by about 40 percent, including oil-rich Kirkuk. They now control over one third of Iraq’s oil production. The Kurds have scheduled a referendum on the self-determination of Kurdistan and have no intention of reverting to a status dependent on Baghdad for revenue, refraining from directly exporting oil and postponing a claim on Kirkuk. Kurdish officials recently told The Washington Post that ISIS cannot be dismantled by the Iraqi army and Peshmarga cannot do it either. It would take collective action by a regional coalition to neutralise ISIS but the coalition simply does not exist.
Iran wants a reliable partner in Baghdad. It will not hesitate to send troops to protect the holy sites in Najaf, Karbala and Samara, but does not have the will to deploy thousands of ground troops to fight an insurgency in Iraq. Saudi Arabia, the ‘champion’ of Sunni Islam, prefers an integrated Iraq but disapproves the marginalisation of Sunnis. It will not endorse an ISIS presence in the Arab peninsula. Iraq could be saved from disintegration by an inclusive government with the exclusion of al-Maliki as prime minister, but this has become hard to achieve. The sale of fighter jets by Russia and political support from Iran has made al-Maliki intransigent. He dismissed John Kerry’s call for a government under a different leadership. The Sunni population has been marginalised and will not withdraw support for ISIS. Likewise, the Kurds in the north have lost confidence in al-Maliki. Kurdish members of his cabinet including the foreign minister have resigned in protest at his accusation that the Kurds were in collusion with ISIS in order to destabilise the government. They are now determined to proceed with a referendum on self-determination.
The US does not have any easy choices. Iraq’s government is vulnerable to an ISIS onslaught but providing arms and ammunition to a sectarian government would anger Sunnis in the Middle East. One option would be to forge a regional coalition with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and the Gulf States to liquidate the funding source of ISIS, encourage Iraq’s Sunni leadership in national reconciliation and persuade al-Maliki to abdicate in favour of a secular leader. Iran must be brought into the diplomatic discourse to encourage Tehran to abandon al-Maliki in favour of a more acceptable candidate to lead the Baghdad government.
The al-Maliki government cannot fight an insurgency with a fragmented army. Failure to install a broad-based government in Baghdad with the confidence of major sects and stakeholders will only promote the insurgency. The southern region has a religious affinity with Iran. The Kurdish region in the north enjoys relative peace and prosperity, and friendly relations with Turkey. The central region is volatile and ISIS’s presence has further exacerbated the situation. The stakeholders and their external allies are more prepared than before to support a proxy war in Iraq. This will lead to disintegration and ultimately the ‘Lebanonisation’ of Iraq, which is not desirable for the people of Iraq or the region.
Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/19-Jul-2014/lebanonisation-of-iraq
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/world-media-iraq-isis/d/98187