The ISIS terrorist group’s unprecedented attack on a lookout point west of Baghdad on Sunday has raised concerns in Iraq. The attack was the first on the outskirts of the capital since 2014.
It has sparked significant alarm since security forces are actively cracking down on remnants of the terrorist group in the Makhoul and Salaheddine province.
Sunday’s attack in the Al-Radwaniyah area left 11 civilians and members of the al-Sahwat region dead or injured.
These are the same people who took up arms when ISIS first emerged in Iraq in 2014.
Head of the Hikma movement Ammar al-Hakim described the attack as a major security breach, calling on the concerned authorities to intensify their efforts and preemptive attacks to crack down on terrorist cells and prevent them from exploiting any security loophole.
Armed groups expert Fadhel Abou Ragheef, however, dismissed the concerns, saying that even though this was the first attack of its kind on the outskirts of the capital in years, this does not necessarily mean that more will follow.
“We cannot possibly claim that ISIS is on Baghdad’s doorstep simply because of a breach in an area that is close to the capital,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Moreover, he said Sunday’s attack is suspicious because it targeted a position of the Sahwat group, not the Iraqi army.
The Sahwat, he added, has long had suspicious ties with all terrorist groups. The fact that the Sahwat turned on some of these groups and launched attacks against them has made them a target of terrorists.
Sahwat official and former MP Iyad al-Jabouri said Sunday’s attack “confirms our concerns and warnings that ISIS was lying in wait to exploit a security breach.”
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The attack underlines the need to arm the Sahwat region that had fought terrorism since 2006 during the heyday of al-Qaeda and until the emergence of ISIS.”
“It is still making one sacrifice after the other amid the complete disregard of officials,” he lamented.
“The residents of al-Sahwat must be armed and their basic rights must be recognized. It is unjust that they continue to make sacrifices while no one bats an eye and while ISIS views them as their number one enemy,” he continued.
Sunday’s incident coincided with ISIS attacks in the Kirkuk, Salaheddine, Diyala and Nineveh provinces, amid ongoing military operations there against remnants of the group.
