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Islamic State offensive opens old sectarian wounds in Iraq
"Walk in my footprints and do not step off the track."
With those softly spoken instructions I follow the Peshmerga fighter, an M4 slung over his shoulder, along the small sandy path beside an olive grove that forms one of the new front lines in the battle against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq.
We are on the edge of a tiny farming village recently liberated from the control of Sunni insurgents and there is concern that there may be IEDs planted in the ground they left behind.
Just under 10 kilometres behind us is the mostly Kurdish and Turkoman town of Makhmur, where residents have slowly started to return after being forced to flee as the insurgents advanced on August 8.
Three kilometres in front of us, Islamic State militants.
<snip>
In other parts of Iraq – outside Kurdistan and towards the capital Baghdad – there are different coalitions forming and, just as quickly, collapsing.
It is on these coalitions that US President Barack Obama is banking when he spoke this week about an Iraq united in the fight against IS.
Just days ago a union of Peshmerga, Iraqi Army and Shiite militias broke the 80-day siege on Amerli, pushing Islamic State fighters out and liberating the town's citizens from a slow death by starvation and illness.
Now that battle has been won, the old divisions have returned. Quickly.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/islamic-state-offensive-opens-old-sectarian-wounds-in-iraq-20140912-10fy3i.html#ixzz3DIY1spAc
With those softly spoken instructions I follow the Peshmerga fighter, an M4 slung over his shoulder, along the small sandy path beside an olive grove that forms one of the new front lines in the battle against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq.
We are on the edge of a tiny farming village recently liberated from the control of Sunni insurgents and there is concern that there may be IEDs planted in the ground they left behind.
Just under 10 kilometres behind us is the mostly Kurdish and Turkoman town of Makhmur, where residents have slowly started to return after being forced to flee as the insurgents advanced on August 8.
Three kilometres in front of us, Islamic State militants.
<snip>
In other parts of Iraq – outside Kurdistan and towards the capital Baghdad – there are different coalitions forming and, just as quickly, collapsing.
It is on these coalitions that US President Barack Obama is banking when he spoke this week about an Iraq united in the fight against IS.
Just days ago a union of Peshmerga, Iraqi Army and Shiite militias broke the 80-day siege on Amerli, pushing Islamic State fighters out and liberating the town's citizens from a slow death by starvation and illness.
Now that battle has been won, the old divisions have returned. Quickly.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/islamic-state-offensive-opens-old-sectarian-wounds-in-iraq-20140912-10fy3i.html#ixzz3DIY1spAc
