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news are coming in , that Baghdad is under threat from the latest upsurge of ISIS as ISIS are advancing towards it
Iraq Scrambles to Defend Baghdad
Iran Says Forces Join Battle Against Advancing Sunni Insurgents Threatening Capital, Holy Cities
Updated June 12, 2014 7:30 p.m. ET
View Slideshow
ISIS militants are shown after allegedly seizing control of an Iraqi army checkpoint in northern Iraq, in an image posted on a jihadist website. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Iraq's government girded to protect the capital from advancing insurgents, as Iranian security officials said their forces had joined the battle on Baghdad's side and the U.S. weighed military assistance, including airstrikes.
Iraq edged closer to all-out sectarian conflict as Kurdish forces took control of a provincial capital in the oil-rich north on Thursday and Sunni militants threatened to march on two cities revered by Shiite Muslims and the capital.
In the Markets
"What we have seen over the last couple of days indicates the degree to which Iraq is going to need more help—more help from us and more help from the international community," President Barack Obama said from the Oval Office. "My team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them," he added. "I don't rule out anything."
Iraq's military was trained and equipped by the U.S. and coalition forces. When attacked by insurgents in several cities this week, Iraqi soldiers surrendered without a fight. What went wrong? What is the U.S. prepared to do? WSJ's Jason Bellini has #TheShortAnswer.
The deteriorating situation in Iraq—a key global oil supplier—reverberated through financial markets Thursday, sending oil prices sharply higher, pushing U.S. stocks lower and igniting the latest rally in safe-haven bonds.
Faced with the threat of Sunni extremists eclipsing the power of Iraq's Shiite-dominated rulers, Shiite Iran sprang into action to aid its besieged Arab ally. It deployed Revolutionary Guards units to Iraq, Iranian security officials said. At least three battalions of the Quds Forces, the overseas branch of the Guards, were dispatched, the security officials said.
The Obama administration signaled it is preparing to re-engage militarily in Iraq, a remarkable U-turn for a president who campaigned in 2008 on ending the war there and has cited the removal of U.S. troops as one of his top successes. Photo: AP
Some U.S. military officials cast doubt on the report that battalions of Iranian Quds Forces had deployed to Iraq, saying only militias controlled by or allied with Iran have been mobilized to fight alongside Iraqi forces.
One Revolutionary Guards unit that was already in Iraq fought alongside the Iraqi army against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an offshoot of al Qaeda rapidly gaining territory across Iraq, the security officials said.
They offered guerrilla-warfare advice and tactics and helped to reclaim most of the city of Tikrit on Thursday, the security officials said. Two units, dispatched from Iran's western border provinces on Wednesday, were tasked with protecting Baghdad and the holy Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf, they said.
Gen. Qasem Sulaimani, the commander of the Quds Forces and one of the region's most powerful military figures, traveled to Baghdad this week to help manage the swelling crisis, said a member of the Revolutionary Guards.
Kurdish peshmerga military forces took control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Thursday -- to resist Sunni militants -- as the country edges closer to a full-blown sectarian conflict. WSJ's Jason Bellini explains.
With Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government proving incapable of containing the widening strife, Iraq's mosaic of ethnic and religious groups has become combustible, as each is forced to take steps to defend its security. The prime minister's office hasn't responded to repeated requests for comment.
U.S.-armed and trained Iraqi security forces put up almost no fight throughout the militants' rout as they captured major cities, witnesses said.
In Washington, Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.) said senators were briefed Thursday on the situation and were told that four of 17 Iraqi military divisions instantly collapsed in the face of the militants' offensive.
The Khazir refugee camp didn't exist on Monday. WSJ's Matt Bradley reports from inside the camp, now home to those fleeing ISIS militants. Photo: AP
Kurdish military units known as Peshmerga said Thursday they had taken full control of the northern city of Kirkuk, had aided Iraqi troops fleeing the area and offered safe passage in the semiautonomous Kurdistan region for civilians fleeing the ISIS insurgency.
The decision by Kurdish fighters to deploy in the northern province where ethnic Kurds are a majority was the latest sign of rising anarchy.
An official in the provincial governor's office said western parts of Kirkuk province were still under the control of ISIS.
"Peshmerga forces have helped Iraqi soldiers and military leaders when they abandoned their positions. We helped them to reach Baghdad via the Kurdistan region," said a Peshmerga spokesman, Lt. Gen. Jabbar Yawar.
He said Peshmerga forces haven't been ordered to move into areas controlled by ISIS and would hold a defensive posture.
"There is no need for Peshmerga forces to move into these areas. Iraqi Army forces are no longer present there, and the situation in these areas is highly unstable, as they are under ISIS control," he said.
There were fresh sign of rifts between the Kurdish Regional Government, which has sought self-rule, and the central Iraqi government in Baghdad. Lt. Gen. Yawar said warnings by Kurdish authorities to their Iraqi counterparts that ISIS could overtake major provinces were ignored.
"Baghdad did not heed the KRG's warnings and now, unfortunately, our predictions have come to pass," he said.
Nationwide, ethnic Kurds make up 20% of Iraq's 32.5 million people.
The Sunni insurgents' lightning offensive in the past three days has sparked the biggest crisis Iraq has faced since it plunged into sectarian violence following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
ISIS overran Tikrit, the birthplace of former dictator Saddam Hussein, on Wednesday. But early Thursday government forces fought back, said Ali Muhammad, an official in Sunni-dominated Salah Al Din province, where the city is located.
Iraqi officials have signaled they would allow U.S. airstrikes on militants, senior U.S. officials said. Iraqi officials have asked the U.S. to speed delivery of promised military support, particularly Apache helicopters, F-16 fighters and surveillance equipment, to help push back ISIS fighters. The U.S. said it has been expediting shipments of military hardware to the Iraqis all year.
ISIS is capitalizing on a wave of Sunni discontent with the Shiite-dominated governments that have ruled Iraq since Hussein's ouster in 2003.
Residents in Mosul, Iraq, are fleeing the region in fear for their lives, while al Qaeda-inspired militant group ISIS release unverified audio vowing to march on Baghdad.
The group aims to set up a state in a continuous stretch of territory from Sunni-dominated Anbar province in Iraq to Raqqa province in northeast Syria. Since capturing Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, on Tuesday it has advanced .
south along the Tigris River toward Baghdad.
In another indication of the increasingly sectarian contours of Iraq's turmoil, ISIS on Thursday issued a threat against Baghdad as well as Karbala and Najaf. The latter two cities, along with Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, are considered sacred to Shiites, who make up 60% of Iraq's population.
The threat by ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani came a day after the powerful Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr urged his followers to form military units to defend the two cities.
Before he suspended its operations in 2008, Mr. Sadr's Mahdi Army, a militia once estimated to have nearly 60,000 members, played a major role in the country's Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict. That clash was fueled by the political emergence of Shiites, who had been marginalized and persecuted at the hands of Sunnis during Hussein's nearly 25-year rule.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/islamist-rebels-vow-to-march-on-iraqs-capital-1402562192
more news
Can Obama let Baghdad fall? | Fox News
BBC News - Iraq conflict: Obama to 'review options'
BBC News - Is this the end of Iraq?
Iraq Scrambles to Defend Baghdad
Iran Says Forces Join Battle Against Advancing Sunni Insurgents Threatening Capital, Holy Cities
Updated June 12, 2014 7:30 p.m. ET
View Slideshow
ISIS militants are shown after allegedly seizing control of an Iraqi army checkpoint in northern Iraq, in an image posted on a jihadist website. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Iraq's government girded to protect the capital from advancing insurgents, as Iranian security officials said their forces had joined the battle on Baghdad's side and the U.S. weighed military assistance, including airstrikes.
Iraq edged closer to all-out sectarian conflict as Kurdish forces took control of a provincial capital in the oil-rich north on Thursday and Sunni militants threatened to march on two cities revered by Shiite Muslims and the capital.
In the Markets
"What we have seen over the last couple of days indicates the degree to which Iraq is going to need more help—more help from us and more help from the international community," President Barack Obama said from the Oval Office. "My team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them," he added. "I don't rule out anything."
Iraq's military was trained and equipped by the U.S. and coalition forces. When attacked by insurgents in several cities this week, Iraqi soldiers surrendered without a fight. What went wrong? What is the U.S. prepared to do? WSJ's Jason Bellini has #TheShortAnswer.
The deteriorating situation in Iraq—a key global oil supplier—reverberated through financial markets Thursday, sending oil prices sharply higher, pushing U.S. stocks lower and igniting the latest rally in safe-haven bonds.
Faced with the threat of Sunni extremists eclipsing the power of Iraq's Shiite-dominated rulers, Shiite Iran sprang into action to aid its besieged Arab ally. It deployed Revolutionary Guards units to Iraq, Iranian security officials said. At least three battalions of the Quds Forces, the overseas branch of the Guards, were dispatched, the security officials said.
The Obama administration signaled it is preparing to re-engage militarily in Iraq, a remarkable U-turn for a president who campaigned in 2008 on ending the war there and has cited the removal of U.S. troops as one of his top successes. Photo: AP
Some U.S. military officials cast doubt on the report that battalions of Iranian Quds Forces had deployed to Iraq, saying only militias controlled by or allied with Iran have been mobilized to fight alongside Iraqi forces.
One Revolutionary Guards unit that was already in Iraq fought alongside the Iraqi army against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an offshoot of al Qaeda rapidly gaining territory across Iraq, the security officials said.
They offered guerrilla-warfare advice and tactics and helped to reclaim most of the city of Tikrit on Thursday, the security officials said. Two units, dispatched from Iran's western border provinces on Wednesday, were tasked with protecting Baghdad and the holy Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf, they said.
Gen. Qasem Sulaimani, the commander of the Quds Forces and one of the region's most powerful military figures, traveled to Baghdad this week to help manage the swelling crisis, said a member of the Revolutionary Guards.
Kurdish peshmerga military forces took control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk on Thursday -- to resist Sunni militants -- as the country edges closer to a full-blown sectarian conflict. WSJ's Jason Bellini explains.
With Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government proving incapable of containing the widening strife, Iraq's mosaic of ethnic and religious groups has become combustible, as each is forced to take steps to defend its security. The prime minister's office hasn't responded to repeated requests for comment.
U.S.-armed and trained Iraqi security forces put up almost no fight throughout the militants' rout as they captured major cities, witnesses said.
In Washington, Sen. Roy Blunt (R., Mo.) said senators were briefed Thursday on the situation and were told that four of 17 Iraqi military divisions instantly collapsed in the face of the militants' offensive.
The Khazir refugee camp didn't exist on Monday. WSJ's Matt Bradley reports from inside the camp, now home to those fleeing ISIS militants. Photo: AP
Kurdish military units known as Peshmerga said Thursday they had taken full control of the northern city of Kirkuk, had aided Iraqi troops fleeing the area and offered safe passage in the semiautonomous Kurdistan region for civilians fleeing the ISIS insurgency.
The decision by Kurdish fighters to deploy in the northern province where ethnic Kurds are a majority was the latest sign of rising anarchy.
An official in the provincial governor's office said western parts of Kirkuk province were still under the control of ISIS.
"Peshmerga forces have helped Iraqi soldiers and military leaders when they abandoned their positions. We helped them to reach Baghdad via the Kurdistan region," said a Peshmerga spokesman, Lt. Gen. Jabbar Yawar.
He said Peshmerga forces haven't been ordered to move into areas controlled by ISIS and would hold a defensive posture.
"There is no need for Peshmerga forces to move into these areas. Iraqi Army forces are no longer present there, and the situation in these areas is highly unstable, as they are under ISIS control," he said.
There were fresh sign of rifts between the Kurdish Regional Government, which has sought self-rule, and the central Iraqi government in Baghdad. Lt. Gen. Yawar said warnings by Kurdish authorities to their Iraqi counterparts that ISIS could overtake major provinces were ignored.
"Baghdad did not heed the KRG's warnings and now, unfortunately, our predictions have come to pass," he said.
Nationwide, ethnic Kurds make up 20% of Iraq's 32.5 million people.
The Sunni insurgents' lightning offensive in the past three days has sparked the biggest crisis Iraq has faced since it plunged into sectarian violence following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
ISIS overran Tikrit, the birthplace of former dictator Saddam Hussein, on Wednesday. But early Thursday government forces fought back, said Ali Muhammad, an official in Sunni-dominated Salah Al Din province, where the city is located.
Iraqi officials have signaled they would allow U.S. airstrikes on militants, senior U.S. officials said. Iraqi officials have asked the U.S. to speed delivery of promised military support, particularly Apache helicopters, F-16 fighters and surveillance equipment, to help push back ISIS fighters. The U.S. said it has been expediting shipments of military hardware to the Iraqis all year.
ISIS is capitalizing on a wave of Sunni discontent with the Shiite-dominated governments that have ruled Iraq since Hussein's ouster in 2003.
Residents in Mosul, Iraq, are fleeing the region in fear for their lives, while al Qaeda-inspired militant group ISIS release unverified audio vowing to march on Baghdad.
The group aims to set up a state in a continuous stretch of territory from Sunni-dominated Anbar province in Iraq to Raqqa province in northeast Syria. Since capturing Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, on Tuesday it has advanced .
south along the Tigris River toward Baghdad.
In another indication of the increasingly sectarian contours of Iraq's turmoil, ISIS on Thursday issued a threat against Baghdad as well as Karbala and Najaf. The latter two cities, along with Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, are considered sacred to Shiites, who make up 60% of Iraq's population.
The threat by ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani came a day after the powerful Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr urged his followers to form military units to defend the two cities.
Before he suspended its operations in 2008, Mr. Sadr's Mahdi Army, a militia once estimated to have nearly 60,000 members, played a major role in the country's Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict. That clash was fueled by the political emergence of Shiites, who had been marginalized and persecuted at the hands of Sunnis during Hussein's nearly 25-year rule.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/islamist-rebels-vow-to-march-on-iraqs-capital-1402562192
more news
Can Obama let Baghdad fall? | Fox News
BBC News - Iraq conflict: Obama to 'review options'
BBC News - Is this the end of Iraq?
