Iraqi Army Unable to Protect an Uprising Against Islamic State, U.S. General Says
Iraqi forces remain on the defensive against the Islamic State in western Iraq, unable to protect the tribesmen who U.S. and Iraqi officials are betting will throw their weight behind the fight against the militant group, U.S. military leaders said Thursday.
“The Iraqi security forces in al-Anbar province are in defensive positions and would be unlikely to be able to respond to a request for assistance for the Albu Nimr tribe,” Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon.
This week, Islamic State fighters publicly executed dozens of Sunni tribesmen, most of them from the Albu Nimr tribe, in the western Iraqi city of Hit. It was the militant group’s latest bloody signal to Sunni Muslims who may be considering taking up arms against them.
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