海角大神

Upon a small card table set in the mud, on ground once controlled by the Islamic State, an Iraqi Army colonel unrolls his well-worn map of central and eastern Iraq.

Methodically he points out how the Army聽has worked in concert聽in recent months聽with Kurdish聽peshmerga聽units and Shiite militias to聽flush IS聽out of most of Diyala Province,聽northeast of Baghdad.

As a dozen bulldozers and graders roar in the background 鈥撀燽uilding聽a new road for military traffic to the shrine city of Samarra 鈥� Col. Saad Mirwah says聽his joint command has successfully checked the advance of IS since June, when it advanced from Syria and captured Iraq鈥檚 second-largest city of Mosul.聽Several Iraqi divisions disintegrated during that offensive.

鈥淲hen the Iraqi Army collapsed and Mosul fell, our morale was down. Now the same thing is happening to IS in Diyala,鈥� says Colonel Mirwah.聽鈥淭he secret of success here is cooperation with each other."

Diyala聽shows聽how Iraq鈥檚 disparate armed forces and paramilitaries can band together to repel IS,聽which poses an existential threat to Iraq and menaces its neighbors. But the apparent success of Mirwah鈥檚 5th Division, which he says 鈥渟tood up鈥� to the IS advance,聽is not easily replicated elsewhere in Iraq, because it relied upon a conducive blend of armed forces, a unified command, and local help.

Last summer, IS threatened to march on Baghdad聽using towns in Diyala as a gateway.聽That threat has now faded. But Diyala is still a crucial crossroads in the conflict, because of its mixed Shiite-Sunni character, and because IS trumpeted its importance to gaining more ground in Iraq.

Since June, Iran has sent hundreds of military advisers, along with large supplies of weapons that have helped shift the balance in Diyala. Likewise, Washington聽last month authorized a near-doubling of US military advisers in Iraq to 3,100, tasked with forging a leaner and battle-ready Iraqi聽Army.

Mirwah says Army units and Shiite militia聽have made their battlefield gains under the command of Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the pro-Iranian Badr Organization; Kurdish units that have their own command structure also 鈥渓isten鈥� to him.

Still, there is little desire in Sunni areas like Anbar Province for the intervention of Kurdish units or Iran-backed Shiite militias, which worked so effectively together in Diyala but are viewed with deep suspicion by Iraqi Sunnis.聽In Anbar, IS has infiltrated Sunni tribes and slaughtered those that dare to fight back.聽

Violent reprisals

On Monday, 50 miles north of here in the town of Alam, IS executed 13 Sunni members of the聽mostly Sunni聽Al-Jabour tribe it accused of聽being resistance fighters. In the latest example of IS using social media to intimidate those who oppose it, the men were dressed in orange jumpsuits and forced to kneel, each one with a black-clad executioner carrying a pistol behind him.

鈥淚f the government wants to make a victory in Anbar, they need to revitalize the tribes,鈥� says Hisham Alhashimi, a security analyst in Baghdad.

Moreover, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi,聽a Shiite,聽also needs to聽fulfill his promises to address long-standing Sunni grievances聽that have fed the backlash against Baghdad, particularly after the Army violently put down Sunni protests two years ago in Anbar. Right now,聽says Mr. Alhashimi, 鈥渢he government is incapable of doing this.鈥�

Officials in聽Diyala say local Sunni and聽Shiite civilians聽alike helped them聽to turn the tide聽against IS, and deny allegations of sectarian bloodletting.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 have any revenge; the Sunnis are not our enemy, our enemy is IS,鈥� says Uday al-Khadran, the mayor of the city of Khalis, who orchestrated the defense of his city with a series of trenches聽last summer, working with Mirwah and his militia allies.聽

In October, Amnesty International reported 鈥渄ozens of cases of abductions and unlawful killings鈥� by Shiite militias against alleged Sunni collaborators聽with IS. Some of these alleged cases occurred in Diyala. And聽Reuters reported Wednesday, quoting an Iraqi Army deputy commander in Abu Ghraib, that Iraqi forces and Shiite聽militias consider the belt of Sunni farmlands around Baghdad a聽鈥渒illing zone鈥� with no civilians, only IS.聽

In November, photographs appeared in news reports and on Facebook of Shiite fighters at a funeral of one of their fallen in Basra, triumphantly holding up the severed heads of IS fighters in clear plastic bags, and pronouncing that they had got their聽鈥渞evenge鈥� on IS.

Echoes of Al Qaeda in Iraq

Mr. Khadran rejects 鈥渃laims that [militias] made bad things for people,鈥� but adds that 鈥渕any鈥� members of IS鈥檚 political wing lived in Diyala. And yet聽one reason so many Sunni civilians have helped local authorities resist the militants is because they remember the presence of jihadists from Al Qaeda in Iraq in their areas in 2007-2008 鈥� often with local support 鈥� and they want to avoid a repeat.聽

So Khadran says local Sunnis helped them identify four booby-trapped houses in one village, and provided a steady flow of information on IS in occupied areas.

鈥淓ach area we liberate, we make a committee to return families back,鈥� says Khadran. Families must promise not to cooperate with IS in the future.

The mayor shows photographs on his phone of a feast put on for him and other Shiite officials by local Sunnis last August, and says they prayed together. He got a similar invitation five days ago.

鈥淚f we want to cut their heads off, they would not welcome us and give us lunch,鈥� says Khadran. 鈥淭he breaking of IS in this area is evidence of their losing. The local people gave them no support.鈥�

Officials聽in Diyala say they have been surprised in recent months at how quickly聽well-armed IS fighters聽retreated in the face聽of advance by聽concerted, multi-pronged military forces. But as militants pulled back, their sophisticated use of explosives has become apparent.

On the mayor鈥檚 phone are photographs of maps of buried explosive devices left behind by IS. In one town along a single stretch of road and side streets, more than 250 devices had been strung together and buried.

鈥淲e lived in the commander鈥檚 house for three days and didn鈥檛 know it was full of bombs,鈥� recalls Khadran.

Bomb factories are hidden behind false walls in bedrooms. And when his forces enter a new IS area, says Khadran, the first thing they聽do is shut聽down the mobile phone system so explosives can鈥檛 be remotely detonated by simply calling a number.聽