Iraqi army strikes back against ISIL

The Iraqi army, backed by up to 8,000 volunteer fighters recruited by the military, retook large parts of northern Salah al-Din province on Saturday. Kurdish forces made further gains and, in the international arena, Iran denied reports that it has deployed up to 2,000 of its troops in Iraq. However, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant continued to make gains, with tribal sources telling Turkish news agency Anadolu on Sunday that forces allied to the militant group managed to gain full control of the al-Sejer region north of Fallujah. 

Saturday saw the army, backed by a growing number of volunteer fighters, launch a major counter-offensive focused on the northern province of Salah al-Din, whose major cities include Baiji, Tikrit and Samarra.

The Iraqi Prime Minister’s spokesperson announced at 14:00 GMT that the Iraqi army had regained control of most northern parts of Salah al-Din.

The news followed reports in Iraq’s state news agency that up to 200 suspected ISIL fighters had been killed in the northern city of Baiji.

The fighting now seems to be intensifying around the capital city of Baghdad, with AFP reporting that new army checkpoints have been set up 25 kilometres north of the city in an attempt to protect it from attack.

Soldiers are digging trenches by hand to bolster the city’s protection.

Iraqi security forces recaptured a town 90 kilometres north-west of Baghdad, the closest that the armed groups had managed to seize since launching a fresh wave of assaults in Mosul on Monday.

After taking back the town of Ishaqi in Salah al-Din province, government forces discovered the charred bodies of 12 policemen, according to AFP.

An attack on a convoy carrying the head of Iraq’s anti-corruption convoy killed nine people north of the capital on the Baghdad-Samarra road.

Saturday morning also saw a reported 50 leaders of the banned Baath Party, the party of former dictator Saddam Hussein, killed in one air and ground raid on a house in Tikrit, in central Salah al-Din.

Among those killed was Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, son of the Baath Party leader of the same name.

The colonel from the military command responsible for Samarra, a city 110 kilometres north of Baghdad, said reinforcements from the federal police and army arrived on Friday, but were awaiting orders to begin. Maliki arrived in Samarra on Friday to inspect the forces ahead of their assault and to pray at the al-Askari mausoleum, a revered Shiite shrine whose 2006 bombing by al-Qaeda sparked a sectarian conflict that killed tens of thousands. He delivered his address from the city, despite reports that ISIL had attacked the city overnight. 

According to a post on ISIL's Twitter page, posted at 21:50 GMT (23:50 local time) the group launched air strikes on the city, allegedly killing scores of soldiers, as well as leading figures in the military. The statement could not be independently verified, although most reports suggest that Iraq's military was able to ward off the offensive and kept its ground. 

Kurdish gains

Kurdish forces have also played a major role in the fighting, leading to speculation that advances by the Peshmerga, (Kurdish regional government forces) in Kirkuk and elsewhere could be permanent. On Sunday, Kurdish security officials told Anadolu that following the withdrawl of the Iraqi army their forces had seized control of one the two official border crossings with Syria. 

This comes on the back of various other advances which saw the Peshmerga take control of Kirkuk, the oil-rich city considered by many Kurds as their historic capital, which has long been disputed between Kurds and the Baghdad government.

Late on Friday the Kurdish Ministry of Defence announced that, with the exception of some areas, “the entire Kurdish territories outside the Kurdistan region are now in the hands of the Kurdish forces.”

Saturday afternoon saw Kurdish fighters gain control of the border town of Rabia, on Iraq’s frontier with Syria, according to the Kurdish news site Rudaw. The site reports that the stated aim of Kurdish military officials is to move into Saadiya, a town in the north of Diyala province. Friday also saw reports of clashes between Peshmerga forces and Sunni militias in the Diyala province, some 150 kilometres south of Kirkuk. 

An air assault by Iraqi forces killed six Kurdish fighters near the eastern town of Khanqin on Saturday night. There has as yet been no official comment from the Iraqi administration regarding the attack, and it is unclear whether the incident was a targeted attack or a case of friendly fire.

The fighting in areas of northern Iraq has led to wide-scale internal displacement, with many refugees heading to towns in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Al-Jazeera reports that the majority of those fleeing, whose numbers are estimated at 300,000 by the UN refugee agency, have sought safety in the Kurdish capital  of Erbil.

International reactions 

There has also been widespread debate about the possibility of international intervention after the swift advance of ISIL-led fighters, and the widespread desertion of many Iraqi army troops during the early stages of the crisis.

There were reports on Sunday that Iran, which is supportive of Maliki’s government, sent the leader of its elite Quds forces to Iraq last week to start leading operations against Sunni insurgents, according to Iraqi security officials quoted in the UK-based weekly The Sunday Times.

This came on the back of suggestions reported in The Guardian on Saturday that Iran had sent 2,000 troops to back the Iraqi army.

However, Iran has moved to deny these suggestions. President Rouhani held a press conference in Tehran on Saturday to tell journalists that the deployment of Iranian troops in Iraq “has never been considered.”

Rouhani did say that Iran is “ready to help” should Iraq ask for assistance, but that they have not received any such request from their Western neighbour.

The commander of Iran’s Border Guards General Zolfaqari announced Saturday that his forces have intensified security measures along the Western border, according to reports in the state news agency Fars.

He also hinted that arrangements were being made for Iraqis fleeing violence to seek refuge in Iran, saying that his team had “offered some proposals” regarding those who might look to Iran for a safe haven.

Unconfirmed reports emerged earlier in the week that Iran had already sent two units of the Revolutionary Guard to Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala, according to Iranian security officials quoted in the Wall Street Journal and CNN.

As well as denying that Iranian troops are on the ground in Iraq, Rouhani also told reporters that he would consider supporting US actions in Iraq, despite the two countries having had no diplomatic relations for more than 30 years.

“If we see that the United States takes action against terrorist groups in Iraq, then one can think about it,” Rouhani said at a press conference, marking one year since he was elected president.

"We have said that all countries must unite in combating terrorism. But right now regarding Iraq we have not seen the Americans taking a decision yet," Rouhani said, mentioning that the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria has been intensified by the West.

The US, however, has denied holding talks with Iran on the Iraq crisis, and insists that the two countries will only negotiate on the ongoing nuclear issue, with the latest round of talks kicking off in Vienna .

Despite the denials, some analysts believe that the crisis is destined to bring Iran closer to the West, and could have major repercussions in neighbouring Syria.

"Washington and London are going to find themselves on the same side as Damascus, facing what appears to be a threat to the region, the West and Europe," Frederic Pichon, author of Syria: Why the West was Wrong told AFP. 

On Friday, US President Barack Obama ruled out sending troops, although he said that the White House was still mulling over other options and expects that the US will announce its strategy in the next few days.

Obama, who decided to pull all US troops out of Iraq in 2011, also had stern words for the Maliki government. Without naming the Iraqi prime minister, US President Barack Obama issued a brief statement from the White House lawn, warning the Baghdad government that it had brought disaster upon itself by failing to heal the divides between Sunni and Shiite camps in the country.  

"Any action that we may take to provide assistance to Iraqi security forces has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by Iraq's leaders to set aside sectarian differences, to promote stability and account for the legitimate interests of all of Iraq's communities, and to continue to build the capacity of an effective security force," he said, adding, "We can't do it for them."

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton told the BBC late on Friday that before the US can offer Iraq and military support, Maliki will have to demonstrate that “he is a leader for all Iraqis, not for a sectarian slice of the country.”

Speaking on the programme Newsnight, Clinton said that the army, “which has not been able to hold territory, has to have an injection of discipline and professionalism, something the US has been trying to help with."

Maliki’s response

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki appeared live on state television on Saturday morning to discuss the crisis that has hit the country in the past week, and has seen large swaths of territory fall to the al-Qaeda inspired group, ISIL. In a statement, Maliki called on the people to avoid “sectarian language”, and to disregard media claims about the security situation in Iraq. 

Maliki has announced that he has been granted “unlimited powers” by cabinet to allow him to combat the crisis crippling Iraq. 

In a statement released on his website late on Friday, Maliki spoke of the “unified position” of politicians, as well as the army and police forces and said that Iraq was “a sacred country that cannot be defiled by ISIL gangs.”

Maliki's announcement seemed to indicate that he is claiming similar authority to that awarded a prime minister in a state of emergency. Under the constitution, in an emergency the prime minister is given the "necessary powers." The specifics of those powers are to be regulated by law. The Iraqi parliament met on Thursday to discuss imposing a state of emergency, but the measures failed to pass after only 128 out of 325 Iraqi MPs showed up for the session.