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In fight for Tikrit, U.S. finds enemies on both sides of the battle lines In fight for Tikrit, U.S. finds enemies on both sides of the battle lines
(about 3 hours later)
BAGHDAD — As the United States opens another front of battle in Iraq, it finds itself on the same side as an array of armed groups that not only consider the United States an old enemy but also accuse it of actively supporting Islamic State militants they are fighting on the battlefield. BAGHDAD — As American forces open another front of battle in Iraq, they find themselves on the same side as an array of armed groups that not only consider the United States an enemy but also accuse it of actively supporting Islamic State militants.
After the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State launched its first airstrikes in the city of Tikrit on Wednesday night, Kitaeb Hezbollah, which was responsible for numerous bombings and rocket attacks against U.S. soldiers during the Gulf War, was quick to say it would treat their planes as targets. Since the U.S.-led coalition planes launched their first airstrikes in the Islamic State-held city of Tikrit on Wednesday night, threats and accusations from Shiite militias who were leading the battle there have grown. Several of the Iranian-backed groups accused coalition aircraft of bombing a headquarters for pro-government fighters in city on Friday, promising retribution.
Since then, the threats have grown. Several Shiite militias accused coalition planes of bombing a headquarters for pro-government fighters at Tikrit University on Friday, promising retribution. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad released a statement rebutting the charge, saying no coalition airstrikes took place in the vicinity at the time. The Iraqi government also said no such attack to place. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad released a statement Friday rebutting the claim, saying there were no coalition strikes in the vicinity at the time, and the Iraqi government also said no such attack to place.
However baseless, the accusations highlight the United States’ precarious position of being considered an unwelcome guest for many groups on the ground as it attempts to assist in the battle against Islamic State militants. They feed threats that leave U.S. personnel and planes open to attack from both sides of the battlefield. The claim was the latest in a long string of accusations leveled at the United States since its first airstrikes against the Islamic State in August. Rumors of coalition planes dropping weapons supplies to Islamic State militants and attacking pro-government fighters are now widely held beliefs in a country where conspiracy theories are rife.
“We will respond with force while they are within our firing range,” Shibil al-Zaidi, a leader of the Kitaeb Imam Ali militia, said in a statement about the alleged strike. “We have the ability to face these American attacks.”
Iraqi Shiite militias balk at offensive if U.S. airstrikes are involvedIraqi Shiite militias balk at offensive if U.S. airstrikes are involved
It comes after Kitaeb Hezbollah showed off surface-to-air missiles in a video earlier this month in what analysts said is likely an attempt by Iranian backed-militias to reduce the willingness of the international coalition to participate on the battlefield as the United States and Iran vie for influence. However baseless, the accusations highlight the United States’ precarious position, which is unwelcome to many Iranian-supported Shiite groups fighting on the ground against Sunni Islamic State militants. Analysts say the groups’ intensifying threats are likely an attempt to dampen the will of the international coalition as the United States and Iran vie for influence in the battle.
“If the threats succeed in that goal, it would grant more responsibility and control for Iran and its proxies on the battlefields of Iraq,” Philip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland specializing in Shiite militant groups, wrote in an analysis last week. The United States’ intervention in the Tikrit offensive, which came after the Shiite militias’ efforts stalled, has left the Iranian backed-groups feeling undermined, according to their members.
But while enmity from the Shiite militias that fought the United States may be expected, it is also a view that permeates more widely after being regularly raised in parliament and in the Iraqi media, even reaching the highest ranks of the official armed forces that the United States is aiding. “We will respond with force while they are within our firing range,” Shibil al-Zaidi, a leader of the Kitaeb Imam Ali militia, said in a statement about the alleged U.S. strike on Friday. “We have the ability to face these American attacks.”
“Everybody knows that the Americans are dropping supplies to Daesh,” said Brig. Gen. Abed al-Maliki, a senior Iraqi army commander based in the city of Samarra, 80 miles north of Baghdad, using a term for Islamic State derived for its Arabic acronym. Most Shiite militia leaders and some commanders in Iraq’s so-called popular mobilization units, a grouping of militiamen and Shiite volunteers, have refused to fight in the battle for Tikrit until U.S. planes leave. But they also say they have refused to leave their positions, and some have threatened to shoot down American planes.
Kitaeb Hezboallah, a Shiite militia that is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States and carried out major attacks on U.S. targets during the Iraq war, was the first to make that threat on Wednesday.
Call to arms a reminder of the power of Iraq’s Ayatollah Ali SistaniCall to arms a reminder of the power of Iraq’s Ayatollah Ali Sistani
He goes as far as to claim that in some the fiercest fighting around Samarra last year, U.S. Special Operations forces dropped in behind enemy lines to assist Islamic State militants in the battle. Earlier this month, the group showed off its surface-to-air missiles in a video in what Phillip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland specializing in Shiite militant groups, said was likely part of a calculated attempt to intimidate.
“They came in with parachutes and they were helping to bomb the city,” he said. But that enmity for the United States circulates beyond the militias that once fought U.S. soldiers, surfacing also in parliamentary debates and Iraqi media reports and even at the highest ranks of the national armed forces that the United States is aiding.
U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State, he contends, are likely just a cover for efforts to support the group. “Everybody knows that the Americans are dropping supplies to Daesh,” said Brig. Gen. Abed al-Maliki, a senior Iraqi army commander based in the city of Samarra, 80 miles north of Baghdad, using another term for the Islamic State.
What’s more, he said, during some the most fierce fighting around Samarra last year, U.S. Special Operations forces dropped behind enemy lines to assist Islamic State militants.
“They came in with parachutes, and they were helping to bomb the city,” he said.
U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State, he contended, are likely just a cover for efforts to support the group.
“It’s just a show,” he said, sitting in the city’s army command headquarters. “If the Americans want to finish something, they will finish it. If they wanted to liberate Iraq, they could.”“It’s just a show,” he said, sitting in the city’s army command headquarters. “If the Americans want to finish something, they will finish it. If they wanted to liberate Iraq, they could.”
Such accusations regularly appear in the Iraqi media, normally accompanied with an image from Islamic State video from Kobane in Syria last year, showing the militants showing off a load of weapons accidently dropped from a U.S. plane — an incident the U.S. admitted. An American defense official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record, called the notion of the United States assisting the Islamic State “ludicrous,” given that members of the U.S. military were risking their lives to fight the same group.
Visiting U.S. officials are left to fend off questions about whether they support the group. The topic was the first to be broached in questions when Gen. John Allen, special envoy for the coalition to counter the Islamic State, met with the local press in January. Speaking about hostility from some militia groups, the official said “these are some of the militias that fought us during the Iraq war, when we were there earlier . . . so we take what people are saying seriously.
“But for right now we believe that our service members and our aircraft are safe, and we’ll continue to take the fight to ISIL,” he added, using an acronym for the Islamic State.
When such accusations appear in the Iraqi media, they are normally accompanied with an image from an Islamic State video from Kobane in Syria last year, showing the militants displaying a load of weapons accidently dropped from a U.S. plane — an incident the United States acknowledged.
Visiting U.S. officials are left to fend off questions about whether they support the group. The topic was the first to be broached in questions when Gen. John Allen, special envoy for the coalition to counter the Islamic State, met with Iraqi journalists in January.
“The story, I think, is that we’re supplying [the Islamic State],” he said. “And that, in fact, is not correct.”“The story, I think, is that we’re supplying [the Islamic State],” he said. “And that, in fact, is not correct.”
The conspiracy theories are stoked by the U.S. involvement in the wider region, where Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia battle for influence against Shiite Iran. While the United States has backed the same side as Saudi in conflicts in Syria and Yemen, in Iraq it finds itself on the other side of the battle. The theories are stoked by U.S. involvement in the wider region, where Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia are battling for influence against Shiite Iran. While the United States has backed the same side as Saudi Arabia in conflicts in Syria and Yemen, in Iraq it finds itself on the other side of the battle.
A wildly popular television trailer for a show launched last year mocking the Islamic State played off that popular conspiracy — showing the Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, hatching out of an egg after a marriage between characters representing Israel and America. A wildly popular television trailer for an Iraqi television program launched last year that mocked the Islamic State played off that speculation. It showed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi hatching out of an egg after a marriage between characters representing Israel and America.
“The information that we have is that Daesh was created by the United States and Israel,” Maliki said. Mustafa Salim in Baghdad and Missy Ryan in Washington contributed to this report
Mustafa Salim contributed to this report
Read more:Read more:
Iraqi offensive for Tikrit stalls as casualties mountIraqi offensive for Tikrit stalls as casualties mount
Pro-government forces press further into TikritPro-government forces press further into Tikrit
Strains plague Iraqi, U.S. assessments of long-term fight against Islamic StateStrains plague Iraqi, U.S. assessments of long-term fight against Islamic State