The Iraqi national government in Baghdad announced on Tuesday that it is launching a major military effort to drive the Islamic State (IS) terror militia out of the western Anbar province, including the capital city of Ramadi. However, the Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias involved in the offensive outnumber the government troops nearly 2-1 and have given the operation a distinctly Shi’ite name, “Labaik ya Hussein”, leading Western analysts to fear an increase in suppose for IS among Anbar’s majority Sunni population. Additionally, Baghdad officials expressed anger this week over US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s assessment during a recent TV interview that their forces had lost control of Ramadi because they lacked “the will to fight” against IS, further complicating Washington’s fragile relations with the regime even as it continues to call for the overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria, the other major opponent of IS in the region. Read More
