Mosul

Det ser ud til at "Slaget om Mosul", det sidste opgør med AQI, har taget en spøjs drejning:

Around 1,100 people have been arrested during the first four days of a government crackdown on Al-Qaeda jihadists in Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, the defence ministry said Saturday.

Defence ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari said there had been no clashes during the operation and that 530 of those arrested were wanted by the authorities.

AQI, det mest blodtørstige brand indenfor selvmords-salafi-jihadier, bliver arresteret i hobetal uden kamp. Det lyder ikke helt rigtigt, vel? Mon ikke regeringen i Baghdad benytter lejligheden til at udskifte de lokale autoriteter med sine egne støtter, når nu AQIs få tilbageværende kadrer for længst er forsvundet fra Mosul? Gad vidst, hvad de lokale sunnier siger til det.

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Gad vidst, om de stigende angreb mod amerikanske styrker i al-Anbar har noget at gøre med den irakiske regerings optrappede aktioner mod sunni-arabiske Mosul. Fra Azzaman:

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is personally commanding the operation which he initially code-named ‘the lion’s roar’ then changed into ‘the mother of two springs’ a nickname for Mosul know for its long and pleasant spring.

But the massive attack in which troops have been given free hand to search, arrest and storm residential areas is meeting resistance particularly from the city’s tribal leaders.

One chieftain refusing to be named said the troops had no intelligence of who the gunmen were and where they were bases. “Their arrests and raids are arbitrary,” he added.

Reports on casualties are scarce as the troops even forbid media people from moving.

But military police sources said more than 500 people have been arrested on suspicions of terrorism.

Tribal leaders, many of whom have joined the U.S. funded Sahwa forces or militias, are critical, saying the attack had already led to ‘violations’ of human rights.

“We may understand why the government has imposed the curfew but it is insane to have it indefinitely at a time all public services have been suspended,” said Hussain Abdullah.

Der er også dette fra Missing Links, igen om Mosul, en udtalelse fra sunni-nationalistiske Muslimske Lærdes Forening (AMS på engelsk):

On the third day of the operation (..) these forces arrested over 120 officers of the former Iraqi army, including those who were in military manufacturing in the former government, most of them living in the Arab section of Mosul. And likewise these forces arrested a number of university professors and students in an arbitrary fashion in various areas of Mosul.

The arrest of this elite group, with the participation of militias and forces answering to political trends and sects, in the second-biggest city in Iraq, constitutes a clear demonstration showing that this military campaign has a dimension beyond what has been announced and that its objective is to wipe out those citizens of the governate who reject what the occupation has brought with it, and its backers, and it targets military and civilian expertise...

Altså, hvis man virkelig vil puste til ilden... lad os se, om det lykkes al-Maliki at ødelægge freden nordpå også.