Wednesday, Sep 12, 2012
By Ali A. Nabhan and Sam Dagher
AL-QAIM, Iraq--The Syrian war is fanning a sectarian backlash in neighboring Iraq, as rising violence attributed to al Qaeda on both sides of the border pushes the government in Baghdad closer to its counterpart in Damascus.
The tensions can be seen in and around Al-Qaim, a desert border town in Iraq's Anbar province, where U.S. forces led a campaign six years ago that mostly halted al Qaeda's sway.
Hundreds of Syrians, some wounded, who have escaped the regime's aerial bombardments of the nearby Syrian town of Al-Bukamal, are stuck at the border after being refused entry by Iraqi authorities, said Al-Qaim's mayor, Farhan Ftaikhan.
The Iraqi army, which is concerned al Qaeda fighters might use the refugee influx to cross into Iraq and turn places such as Al-Qaim into havens, kept them out, a government spokesman said.
Among all of Syria's neighbors, Iraq has accepted the least number of Syrian refugees, taking in an estimated 16,000 out of a total of more than 234,000 as of Sept. 4, according to the U.N. Most have gone to Iraq's northern self-ruled Kurdish region, where Baghdad has no control.
Last month, the Iraqi military sent reinforcements to the town of Anbar and closed the border crossing after Baghdad briefly allowed a few thousand refugees in. The move created resentment among many of Anbar's Sunni Muslim residents, who accused the roughly 5,000-strong army unit, drawn mostly of Iraq's majority Shiite Muslim population, of religious bias and of trying to stop their Syrian relatives from seeking shelter from the violence of Syria's conflict.
"The Iraqi government wants to prop up the Syrian regime, and the motive is Iran and sectarian," said Amer al-Ani, a Sunni cleric in Al-Qaim. Shiites rule Iraq and Iran, and Syria's leadership draws heavily from the Shiite-linked Alawite sect.
The Iraqi military says it needs to fight extremists trying to gain influence in both Syria and in adjacent Sunni provinces in Iraq such as Anbar. People who accuse Iraqi troops of sectarian bias want to "turn Anbar into a playground for terrorists," said Gen. Ali Ghaidan, commander of Iraq's ground troops. in an interview
Gen. Ghaidan, like many Iraqi officials, says the 18-month conflict in neighboring Syria has revitalized al Qaeda militants, who see the battle as part of a bigger struggle to unite Middle Eastern nations under a Sunni caliphate. An Iraqi border official said militants on both sides of the border are sharing resources, fighters and arms.
In a statement posted on a jihadist website Monday, the al Qaeda-linked group known as the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for bombings and assassinations the day before that killed nearly 100 people. The Iraqi government said Sunday the group was exploiting the sectarian divide in Iraq and Syria.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called his government neutral in the Syrian conflict, tiptoeing around both the Sunni states backing the Syrian uprising--Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates--and on the other side Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies, Iran and Russia.
Iraqi officials have maintained support for a peaceful resolution but have accused Gulf countries of stoking the conflict. As the threat from al Qaeda appears to have grown recently, Mr. Maliki has closed ranks with Syria's regime, sharing intelligence and maintaining trade, financial and political ties, said Iraqi officials close to Mr. Maliki.
"If al Qaeda succeeds in toppling the regime in Syria, then the Shiite government in Iraq will be next," said Baqer Jabr al-Zubaidi, a former finance and interior minister, who is now a parliament member from Mr. Maliki's Shiite coalition, reflecting the thinking of most Iraqi Shiite leaders.
Mr. Zubaidi accuses Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which espouse a fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam and are currently leading the push against the Assad regime, of supporting al Qaeda militants. "Saudi Arabia is thinking seriously of forming a corridor that connects with Anbar, Mosul and Turkey to the north," he said. Both Gulf countries have dismissed the accusations.
The Islamic State of Iraq's new self-proclaimed leader announced in July a new offensive to topple Iraq's government. He urged a Sunni jihad against Shiites and their allies in Iraqi and Syria and appealed to the Sunni tribes to contribute funds and fighters.
Since then, the size, complexity and frequency of attacks against Shiite civilians and the Shiite-led government's pillars of power-- including the army, police and judiciary--have risen sharply, Iraqi officials say. The strikes also target Sunni tribal figures in Anbar Province who al Qaeda views as collaborating with the Iraqi government and previously the U.S. military.
To be sure, al Qaeda is nowhere near its former strength in Anbar province when foreign fighters flocked in and allied themselves to Iraq's Sunni tribes and insurgents to fight U.S.-led troops after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and empowered the country's Shiite majority.
The militant group's bloody methods soon galvanized many in the tribe to join a U.S.-funded and backed anti-Qaeda campaign starting in 2006 that came to be known as the Sahwa, or the Awakening.
Baghdad has since then exploited tribal rivalries and used economic and political patronage to maintain a fragile control in Anbar and other mainly Sunni tribal areas.
But there are signs these arrangements are being tested, partly due to the escalating conflict in Syria.
"What's happening [in Syria] now is providing a phenomenal environment for al Qaeda to exploit in order to regain control," said Brig. Gen. Tariq al-Asal, who heads Iraq's border security at the Ministry of Interior, and who previously served as Anbar's police chief. Gen. al-Asal hails from one of the province's main Sunni tribes.
Last month, Mahdi al-Sumaidaie, a Sunni cleric and Anbar native, was gravely wounded and four of his bodyguards were killed when a bomb struck his convoy in Baghdad. Mr. Sumaidaie became a prominent advocate of Sunni-Shiite reconciliation after spending time in a U.S. military jail in Iraq following the 2003 invasion for ties to the Sunni insurgency at the time.
The rising violence "means networks are being re-established," said Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik, a retired U.S. military commander who oversaw the expansion and training of Iraq's security forces in 2007-08 before joining Washington-based military think tank the Institute for the Study of War.
Gen. Dubik said al Qaeda's support networks in places such as Anbar were eroded by the Sahwa campaign but never died out because the Shiite-led central government failed to accommodate Sunnis in power structures and government positions to the extent needed to fully delegitimize the insurgency.
Write to Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-09-12 0002GMT
