Iraq Sunni Tribes Take Up Arms against Jihadists

Naharnet ^ | August 15, 2014 | By Naharnet Newsdesk

[Brad from Tennessee]

Members of more than 25 prominent Sunni tribes took up arms against jihadists and their allies west of the Iraqi capital on Friday, a tribal leader and officers said.

The uprising in Anbar province, where jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group and insurgent allies hold major areas, came a day after Nuri al-Maliki, the incumbent premier who is widely reviled by Iraqi Sunni Arabs, abandoned his bid for a third term.

Anbar was the birthplace of a 2006 U.S.-backed uprising against extremist militants that helped bring about a sharp reduction in violence.

The current effort could potentially be a major turning point in Iraq's two-month conflict against an IS-led offensive.

"This popular revolution was agreed on with all the tribes that want to fight IS, which spilled our blood," Sheikh Abduljabbar Abu Risha, one of the leaders of the uprising, told Agence France Presse.

IS-led insurgents launched a major offensive in June that swept security forces aside and overran large areas of five provinces, including Anbar, where parts of provincial capital Ramadi and all of the city of Fallujah had already been outside government control since January.

Anbar police chief Major General Ahmed Saddak said security forces were backing the uprising, which began at 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Friday.

"The battles are continuing until this moment," he said, putting the toll at 12 militants killed and adding: "We will not stop until the liberation of Anbar."

The push by tribesmen and security forces began with attacks on multiple areas northwest of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, Abu Risha and Saddak said. . .

[DB]

That sounds like good news for a change.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I’m about convinced that Saddam was the kind of leader they deserve.

[silverleaf]

“Anbar was the birthplace of a 2006 U.S.-backed uprising against extremist militants that helped bring about a sharp reduction in violence.”

such a PC way of referring to the Petreaus-Bush surge that turned the tide in Iraq, and that was reviled, resisted and finally squandered by the democrat-in-chief now ruling from Marthas Vineyard

This is good news and shows that IS is not “sunni”

[odds]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3193724/posts?page=9#9 — knew it.

[odds]

Kurds & Shiite Iranian regime are the only ones who benefited from Saddam’s removal for different reasons. We’ll see the rest in a year or 2. Stay tuned.

[cherokee1]

So the Iraqeez ( bless their hearts) get to fight to get back their own rathole Fallujah? That’s poetic justice if there is such a thing. Maybe they know where all the freekin’ booby traps are? They were willing to fight our guys there when all we wanted was Saddass Saddam. But they couldn’t get off their camel rashed buttz to defend it from another bunch of goat humpers who really did mean them a whole lot of harm? If that doesn’t make the case for letting these un-toilet-trained geniuses fight themselves to the last girl goat I don’t know what else would. And BTW: they don’t even get virgin sheep for killing each other. I offer to chip in for the bacon they’re gonna need for the victory party.