Despite all its strength and cruelty against Iraqi factions, ISIS failed in dividing Iraqis although the terrorist group used all the methods of intimidation and intrigue during its reign in the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" period, which extended for three years (from 2014 till 2017).
The organization has become widely known as "White Banners", and it seems to be able to divide the Iraqis through their three main ethnic groups; Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, especially after igniting war of words and exchange of accusations among them all.
As soon as Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced in late 2017 the military victory on ISIS, the White Banner movement emerged and started to be circulated in the media through its criminal practices, such as killings, booby trapping or even installing fake security checkpoints.
It was considered a replacement for ISIS or a new version of it, such as the fourth or fifth generation, as circulated in the media.
However, the deep differences that took place after the referendum of the Kurdistan region, which took place on September 25, and the entry of Iraqi forces to Kirkuk and taking control over all disputed areas on October 16 led to a somehow radical change in the political map that was torn apart by variables that were not calculated by any political, ethnic or sectarian party.
Once everyone woke from the trauma of what has happened, a new enemy has already begun to emerge. Although it is using some of ISIS’s criminal mechanisms of action, yet it works in isolation, making it a matter of deep disagreement after each side has claimed responsibility for its support.
Kurdish academic Dr. Abdulhakim Khusro, a professor of political science at the University of Salahaddin in Erbil, who is also close to the Kurdistan Democratic Party, told Asharq Al-Awat that the White Banners “was formed from the remnants of the Baathists, Ansar al-Islam and Naqshbandi movement, and the majority of the Kurds who fought with them were killed.”
For his part, expert on terrorist groups Hisham al-Hashemi told Asharq Al-Awsat that "the White Banners movement is a Kurdish national armed group that rebelled against the events of October 16, 2017, when the federal government controlled Kirkuk and the disputed areas.”
"They do not call themselves ‘the white banners people’; instead, they call themselves the armed Kurdish resistance to liberate Kirkuk. They have nothing to do with the religious ideologies, so they are not al-Qaeda, ISIS, Baathists or Salafists," Hashemi said.
