Iraqi forces joined with their Sunni tribesmen allies and held off an ISIS attack on one of the cities in the Anbar area near Baghdad. This attack comes fairly soon after the Iraqi forces and their allies lost the city of Ramadi to an ISIS attack earlier in the week. The ISIS attack was carried out by troops trying to take over and capture Khaldiya, a city between Ramadi and the town of Fallujah.
This takeover is considered a very important ISIS attack ever–the most important since the United States coalition in Iraq started to travel over their areas and bomb them with airstrikes last year. The plan now is to arm the Sunni tribesmen allies, according to the White House Cabinet, so they can help the Sunnis to win when they try to get back the city of Ramadi.
Prime Minister Orders Iraqi Troops and Shiite Militias to Prepare
Since the city of Ramadi was lost, the Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi has ordered both the Iraqi troops and the Shiite militias to get ready for action to travel to the Sunni province, as the local government and tribes there have requested it. These militia are called the Popular Mobilization Units, and play a great role in getting rid of the ISIS militants, for instance, they were able to get them out of Tikrit, another city that was recently under attack.
Getting Tribe Help in Fight is Imperative
Sources say the help of the tribes in the Anbar region and getting them to travel and join in the fight is vital in the success of the efforts by the United States to get Iraq stabilized. However, since the US pulled out of the area, the tribe’s leaders have maintained that the Iraqi government, which is mostly Shiite, treats the Sunni like second-class citizens.
However, since Ramadi was taken over, the government sees the need to give the Sunni tribes weapons. Also, the government wants to recruit more Iraqi troops and other forces to help in the fight. The US government is responsible for helping to train and rebuild the Iraqi forces in their army, as well as to get Baghdad to work with the Sunnis, and to bomb the ISIS attack’s targets without need to put boots on the ground.
A victory for the Iraqi forces and their allies is likely not happening in the near future, as hundreds of people, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed and thousands more injured and left homeless who had to travel away from the area to escape the violence.
