Jihadist fighters in Iraq seized three border crossings into Syria and Jordan and four nearby towns over the weekend, giving the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) control over much of the country's western frontier.
Isis can now add large swathes of the Iraqi border to a 300km stretch of land it already controls along the Euphrates river, from Mosul in the north to Saddam Hussein's home town, Tikrit. This gives the group a launching pad for potential attacks on strategic sites, including the lifeblood of Iraq's electricity generation, the Haditha dam. The gains also bring the crisis in Iraq to the doorstep of Jordan, a key ally of the United States.
The latest Isis offensive comes as Iraq’s polarised political blocs face a week of intense lobbying to form an inclusive government that could unite the fracturing country.
US secretary of state, John Kerry, is due in Baghdad today to meet Iraqi lawmakers who had been bitterly divided before the jihadist surge, but have recently been reaching out to the US and Iran with increasing desperation.
The latest Isis offensive in western Anbar province has seen the group take four towns in recent days. Iraqi officials said the militants took over the Turaibil crossing with Jordan and the Walid crossing with Syria after government forces there pulled out. Qaim, on the Syrian border, fell a day earlier.
Iraq’s armed forces are outgunned and ill-prepared to deal with Isis, which has rapidly gathered momentum as it has surged across eastern Syria and back into Iraq, where the earliest incarnation of the group was born a decade ago.
US President Barack Obama has warned yesterday that Isis could spread conflict to neighbouring states and pose a “medium- and long-term threat” to the US. “Right now the problem with Isis is the fact that they’re destabilising the country. That could spill over into some of our allies like Jordan.”
“But I think it’s important for us to recognise that Isis is just one of a number of organisations that we have to stay focused on,” he said, highlighting al-Qaida in Yemen and Boko Haram in west Africa.
The president denied US inaction in Syria and Iraq had allowed the crisis to escalate. “What we can’t do is think that we’re just going to play whack-a-mole and send US troops occupying various countries wherever these organisations pop up.” – (Guardian service)