Pro-Iran militias take upper hand after U.S.-backed forces crumble in Anbar

washingtonpost.com ^ | Loveday Morris

[BenLurkin]

Iraqi forces have seized from Islamic State militants a string of hamlets and villages in the dust-choked desert southeast of Ramadi...

But the yellow-and-green flags that line the sides of the newly secured roads and flutter from rooftops leave no doubt as to who is leading the fighting here: Kitaeb Hezbollah, a Shiite militia designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

Iraq’s two main allies — Iran and the United States — have vied for influence over Iraq’s battle to retake ground from Islamic State militants in the past year. While Iranian-linked Shiite militias have spearheaded the fight elsewhere, the U.S.-backed Iraqi army and counterterrorism units had been on the front lines in Anbar province, supported by an eight-month American-led air campaign.

But with the fall of Ramadi, the province’s capital, this month, paramilitary forces close to Iran are now taking the upper hand. They include groups such as Kitaeb Hezbollah, responsible for thousands of attacks on U.S. soldiers who fought in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

[Pining_4_TX]

All Muslims are radical wackos. There are no good guys in that fight. They are all willing to use us, and then turn on us when they have the chance. Even K.T. McFarland, who seemed to want US troops everywhere, admitted that there are no good guys in the Shia vs Sunni war. Let them kill each other. I don’t see a problem with that.