Iraq’s Southern Front Babil Province Where The Islamic State Has Free Reign

 

Most of the attention on Iraq has been focused upon the deteriorating security situation in Anbar in the west, and Ninewa and Salahaddin in the north. In the south however in Babil province the insurgency has been growing in strength since late-2013. The government has launched six security operations in the northwest section of the governorate this year, deployed militias there, and claimed success every time, but the sheer number of offensives points to the failures of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). More importantly the Islamic State (IS) has been able to use its bases in northern Babil to connect with its forces in Anbar in its ultimate goal to surround and move on the capital.

Jurf al-Sakhr in northwest Babil and the surrounding areas have become an Islamic State stronghold (IraqSlogger)

Despite what the central and provincial government has said northwestern Babil has grown more violent for more than a year now. Back in October 2013 for example, there was a gunfight between the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and 300 insurgents in Jurf al-Sakhr. That was a huge amount of fighters rarely seen in Iraq at that time pointing to the strength of the militants there. Events like those led the ISF to launch the first of many security operations there on January 6, 2014. Insurgents responded by attempting to assassinate the local police chief twice at the end of the month. The regular security forces suffered heavy casualties as well. For instance, on February 8 an army unit was ambushed leading to one soldier being killed and 31 wounded. The next day a car bomb targeted an army patrol causing the death of two soldiers and wounding six including three soldiers. February 11 improvised explosive devices aimed at checkpoints left two Federal Police and two soldiers dead and eleven Federal Police and eleven soldiers wounded. Finally, eleven soldiers were killed and three wounded in a gun battle on February 14. That was followed by six car bombs aimed at civilians in the third week of the month that left 15 fatalities and 77 injured. Another suicide car bomb in Hillah on March 9 resulted in 50 dead and 160 wounded. By the end of the month there were demonstrations against the deteriorating security situation in the province. A few days later Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the army to withdraw from the area to re-group. The head of the security committee on the Babil council criticized the premier’s decision, while sources told the press that the Jurf area had fallen to the Islamic State. In mid-April Maliki replaced the head of the Babil Operations Command. That set the stage for the second security offensive that began that month. This time militias were deployed to the northeastern section of the province to support the ISF. At the beginning of May the Babil council complained that not enough was being done to fight the insurgency, while on May 12 the police said Jurf al-Sakhr to Musayib was now free of militants. Then on May 15 the third operation was announced. Forces were deployed from Jurf al-Sakhr to Iskandiriya. Three days later the Babil provincial police chief claimed the Jurf area was safe once again, followed by the Babil Operations Command stating the same thing on May 23. Despite those statements the Iraqi Red Crescent noted that 800 families had fled the area due to the fighting, while the Islamic State posted pictures on Twitter of a destroyed ISF convoy, captured equipment, and the destruction of security checkpoints and installations using heavy equipment such as cranes and bulldozers. That led to the 4^th campaign on May 31, and more statements about progress against the insurgents. After the fall of Mosul in early June a 5^th operation was started that included 1,500 volunteers. By June 22 the spokesman for Maliki’s Office of the Commander and Chief General Qasim Atta said that Jurf was cleared once more, but the head of the Babil security committee told the press that there were still some insurgents there. June 28 fighting broke out there again, Maliki replaced the head of the Babil Operations Command July 1 for the second time, General Atta repeated his claim that Jurf was cleared on July 3, while July 6 a tank battalion was sent to northern Babil for the sixth operation, which started on July 8. The fighting in the province mimics what has happened in Anbar. In both governorates the ISF has launched operation after operation in the same areas only to have the insurgents either fight off the army and police or re-infiltrate the area later. Despite all the repeated statements northwest Babil is no more secure today than it was before the first of six operations were launched there. This points to the strategic failure of the security forces. They are a reactive force that has lost the initiative to the militants, and cannot hold any territory in Sunni areas like Jurf al-Sakhr no matter how many times they might go in.

 Captured HUMVEE in Jurf al-Sakhr by IS

Islamic State using cranes to dismantle a security checkpoint in Jurf al-Sakhr

 ISF convoy ambushed and destroyed by IS in Jurf al-Sakhr

Captured members of the local Sahwa in Jurf al-Sakhr

Captured arms and munitions from the ISF

Security Incidents Babil 2014

	Attacks	Dead	ISF Dead	Civilian Dead	Wounded	ISF Wounded	Civilian Wounded
Jan	27	11	5	6	51	23	28
Feb	41	110	43	67	260	75	185
Mar	40	117	36	81	269	39	230
Apr	49	89	36	53	197	93	104
May	56	85	59	26	170	123	47
Jun	45	227	57	170	290	58	232
Total	258	639	236	403	1,237	411	826

  

Northern Babil is part of the Islamic State’s plan to surround and attack Baghdad. Since 2013 IS has been rebuilding its networks and cells in and around the capital into what are known as the Baghdad belts. The Jurf al-Sakhr area represents the southern front. With its advances in Anbar, IS has been able to move its forces back and forth between eastern Anbar and northern Babil, while expanding into areas like Abu Ghraib in western Baghdad and the rural areas surrounding Latifiya and Mahmudiya in northern Babil and into southern Baghdad province as well. Babil has also been used to launch car bombs into southern Iraq. The security forces have proven incapable of stopping this expansion of the Islamic State’s influence. That opens the door for IS to move closer to its ultimate goal of restarting the fighting in the streets of the capital in its attempt to overthrow the government. That won’t be successful because Baghdad is overwhelmingly Shiite, but if the ISF were competent it could stop this from happening in the first place. Instead a sixth futile operation has just gotten underway in northwest Babil as the IS moves ahead with its plans.

SOUCES

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