Iraq faces major threat to stability with new conflict

Jun 18, 2014

Iraq faces major threat to stability with new conflict

Thomas Neas 0 Comment World Iran, Iraq, Iraq War, ISIS, Islam, Kurdistan, terrorism

Sunni jihadist forces, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL), launched a major offensive in northern Iraq on June 9, resulting in the capture of Iraq’s second largest city on June 10. Counter-attacks by Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga slowed the offensive, and Shiite Iraqis have been volunteering in large numbers to fight ISIS. The US and Iran have been discussing the situation, and might work together to support the Iraqi government.

: An image from the jihadist Twitter account Al-Baraka News on June 13, 2014 allegedly shows an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) militant restraining an unidentified man at an undisclosed location close to the Iraqi-Syrian border, in the district of Sinjar, in northwest Iraq. Iraq has bolstered Baghdad’s defences as militants near the capital pressing an assault launched in second city Mosul, the interior ministry spokesman said on June 13, 2014. (AFP PHOTO / HO / ALBARAKA NEWS)

: Families arrive at a Kurdish checkpoint next to a temporary displacement camp on June 14, 2014 in Kalak, Iraq. Thousands of people have fled Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul after it was overrun by ISIL militants. Many have been temporarily housed at various IDP (internally displaced persons) camps around the region, including the area close to Erbil, as they hope to enter the safety of the nearby Kurdish region. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

: Iraqi security forces patrol an area near the border between Karbala Province and Anbar Province on June 16, 2014. The United States said it could launch air strikes and act jointly with its rival, Iran, to support the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents across Iraq that has scrambled alliances in the Middle East. (REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed)

: A member of the Kurdish security forces walks past wreckage of vehicle belonging to Iraqi security forces in the outskirts of Kirkuk June 16, 2014. Iraq’s Kurds have established control over the northern city of Kirkuk and its oil reserves and effectively achieved their “dream of a greater Kurdistan”, the chairman of Iraq’s oil and gas committee said on Tuesday. (REUTERS/Ako Rasheed)

: An Iraqi Kurdish music teacher instructs a girl on how to play the violin during a music lesson at a summer school in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on June 17, 2014. (SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

: Displaced Iraqis queue to register at a temporary camp set up to shelter people fleeing violence in northern Iraq on June 17, 2014 in Aski kalak, 40 kilometers west of Arbil, the Kurdish autonomous region’s capital. Militants pushed a weeklong offensive that has overrun swathes of Iraq to within 60 km (37 miles) of Baghdad, as the UN warns the country’s existence is under threat. (KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images)

: An Iraqi security forces member takes position as people fleeing the violence in Mosul arrive at an IDP camp on the outskirts of Arbil on June 14, 2014. The insurgent offensive that has threatened to dismember Iraq spread to the northwest of the country on Sunday, when Sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a town close to the Syrian border, clashing with police and government forces. ISIL fighters and other Sunni militant groups stormed several towns on the road to Baghdad after seizing Mosul. Picture taken June 14. (REUTERS/Jacob Russell)

: Members of the Kurdish security forces examine a mortar shell embedded in a road on the outskirts of Kirkuk on June 14, 2014. The offensive by insurgents that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow on Saturday after days of lightning advances as government forces regained some territory in counter-attacks, easing pressure on the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. (REUTERS/Azad Lashkari)

: Iraqis donate blood on June 17, 2014 during a campaign organized in support of Iraqi security forces fighting against jihadis, who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities, in the southern Iraq Shiite shrine city of Najaf. (HAIDAR HAMDANI/AFP/Getty Images)

: An image uploaded June 14, 2014 on the jihadist website Welayat Salahuddin allegedly shows ISIL militants capturing dozens of Iraqi security forces members prior to transporting them to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them. The ISIL offensive also involves supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein and has overrun one province entirely and chunks of three others since it was launched June 9. (AFP PHOTO / HO / WELAYAT SALAHUDDIN)

: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (left) and Iranian ambassador to Austria Hassan Tajik (right) attend the so-called EU 5+1 Talks at the UN headquarters in Vienna, on June 17, 2014. The United States and Iran briefly discussed the crisis in Iraq on the sidelines of a critical fifth round of nuclear talks, US officials said June 16, 2014. (DIETER NAGL/AFP/Getty Images)

: British Foreign Secretary William Hague leaves the Office of the Prime Minister in London on June 17, 2014 to address parliament. Britain plans to reopen its embassy in Iran, Hague announced on June 17, as the West steps up its engagement with Tehran amid rapid jihadist advances in Iraq. (ANDREW COWIE/AFP/Getty Images)

: Iraqi Shiite clerics gather at a mosque in the southern Shiite shrine city of Najaf on June 16, 2014 for a meeting to discuss Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s call to arms last week in the defense of the country against the offensive spearheaded by Sunni jihadists. (HAIDER HAMDANI/AFP/Getty Images)

: Iraqi Shiite tribesmen brandish their weapons and a poster of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani as they gather to show their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants, who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities, on June 17 2014 in the southern Shiite Muslim shrine city of Najaf. (AFP PHOTO/HAIDAR HAMDANI)

: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (center) meets with members of his government in Baghdad on June 17, 2014. The Iraqi government charges that Saudi Arabia should be held responsible for financing militants and crimes committed by insurgent groups. Comments from Saudi Arabia indicates it is “siding with terrorism,” the cabinet said in a statement issued by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office. (AFP PHOTO / HO / IRAQI PRIME MINISTER’S MEDIA OFFICE)

: Iraqi men who volunteered to join the fight against a major offensive by jihadists in northern Iraq run towards army trucks as they leave a recruiting center in the capital Baghdad on June 13, 2014. Iraqi forces clashed with militants advancing on the city of Baquba, just 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad, as an offensive spearheaded by jihadists drew closer to the capital. (ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images)

: Iraqi men who volunteered to join the fight against a major offensive by jihadists in northern Iraq stand on army trucks as they leave a recruiting center in the capital Baghdad on June 13, 2014. (ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images)

: Newly-recruited Iraqi volunteers, wearing police uniforms, take part in a training session on June 17, 2014 in the central Shiite Muslim city of Karbala. Faced with a militant offensive sweeping south toward Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced on June 15, 2014 that the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteer to fight. Thousands have already signed up. (MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP/Getty Images)

: Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi Army to fight against predominantly Sunni militants, carry weapons during a parade in the streets in Baghdad’s Sadr city June 14, 2014. The insurgent offensive that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow on Saturday after days of lightning advances. Government forces regained some territory in counter-attacks, easing pressure on the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad. (REUTERS/Wissm al-Okili)

: Iraqi Shiite women shout slogans supporting Iraqi army in Najaf, south of Baghdad, June 17, 2014. Iraq’s Shi’ite rulers defied Western calls on Tuesday to reach out to Sunnis to defuse the uprising in the north of the country, declaring a boycott of Iraq’s main Sunni political bloc and accusing Sunni power Saudi Arabia of promoting “genocide.” Washington has made clear it wants Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to embrace Sunni politicians as a condition of U.S. support to fight the lightning advance of ISIL forces. (REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani)

: A member of the Mehdi Army loyal to Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr holds a black flag that reads, “suicide unit” during a military-style training in the holy city of Najaf, June 16, 2014. The United States said it could launch air strikes and act jointly with Iran to support the Iraqi government, after a rampage by Sunni Islamist insurgents across Iraq, which has scrambled alliances in the Middle East. (REUTERS/Ahmad Mousa)

: Members of the Shiite Muslim Mahdi Army train in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on June 17, 2014. Iraqi Shiite volunteers, who had been fighting in neighboring Syria, have been heading home to battle an offensive that has brought militants near Baghdad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (AFP PHOTO/STR-/AFP/Getty Images)

: Children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and ISIL in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, June 10, 2014. Radical Sunni insurgents have seized control of most of Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul, overrunning a military base and freeing hundreds of prisoners in a spectacular strike against the Shiite-led government. (REUTERS/Stringer)

: Volunteers, who joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni ISIL, gesture from a truck in Baghdad, June 17, 2014. Sunni militants attacked a northern Iraqi village inhabited by Shiite ethnic Turkmens but were repelled, police said on Tuesday, highlighting an upsurge in sectarian violence after advances by jihadi fighters. (REUTERS/Ahmed Saad)

: Volunteers gather with their weapons during a parade in the streets in Al-Fdhiliya district of eastern Baghdad on June 15, 2014. The insurgent offensive that has threatened to dismember Iraq spread to the northwest of the country on Sunday, when Sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a town close to the Syrian border, clashing with police and government forces. (REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani)

: Volunteers travel in army trucks leaving from Baghdad on June 14, 2014. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told army officers in Samarra that volunteers were arriving to help defeat Islamist militants, who have swept through Sunni Muslim territory towards Baghdad. (REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani)

: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Iraq from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington D.C., on June 13, 2014. Obama said Friday that he will take several days to review options for how the United States can help Iraq deal with a militant insurgency, saying any action would need significant involvement by Iraq itself. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attends a news conference in Tehran on June 14, 2014. Iran could contemplate cooperating with its old adversary the United States on restoring security to Iraq if it saw Washington confronting “terrorist groups in Iraq and elsewhere,” Rouhani said Saturday. (REUTERS/president.ir/Handout)

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