![]() “In reality, it is like looking for a needle in a marshland,” said Jalil. Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/The Guardian Iraqi troops wash after a day spent in the search for Islamic State militants. “They have to deal with them because they don’t have security forces to protect them.” He said part of the problem lay with local security forces that sat behind high walls in a fortified position above the hills, leaving the villages and fields unprotected. “They all know the deputy governor, they all know him very well – how could they not if they come from the same village? Yet at the same time no one wants to be seen talking to us, because they still fear Daesh, and they have the right – we are here for a few hours, and we leave, and the gunmen would come at night looking for supplies.” He admitted he could understand the man’s fear. “I swear by Allah we are fed up, the State comes every night, and the government doesn’t do anything.”įrustrated, the commander and his convoy left. “Of course they want food, and they take what they want forcefully. “Some are living in the mountains at night the men come through the wadi and enter from there,” he said pointing to the far side of the village. Upon hearing this, the man began speaking again with a grimace of pain, telling the soldiers that many families had left when Isis was driven out. “So you know nothing? Well, maybe you are one of them.” He turned to his soldiers and said: “Look how thin he is. “Talk why are you scared? Who are you scared of?” The man replied: “I swear I don’t know him, but I know that his father was with the State, and his father is now in prison.” “Why are you scared? We won’t hurt you,” the officer said with a smile. ![]() Isof soldiers and officers question a villager. “It’s all wadis and canals, so we don’t know when they come and leave.” “You have seen the ground here,” he said. Then, one man disclosed that Isis militants had passed through the village in recent weeks. One after another, they denied knowing him some even claimed that they had not heard of his family. The lieutenant-colonel began questioning the men about the whereabouts of the deputy governor. ![]() The women and children stood in nearby doorways, watching with the apprehensive looks of people well accustomed to almost two decades of interrogations and raids. They were made to crouch on the ground, their heads bent and faces lined against the wall. In the haze of the early morning sun, the Earth, walls and even sky were all in shades of yellow and brown.īut it was not an abandoned village, and gradually the soldiers started rounding up the men there. In the centre sat an old tractor and some rusted machinery. The place looked deserted, like a long-abandoned movie set. Dogs ran into the fields, barking and giving chase to the low-hovering helicopters. Two snipers climbed over a barn and lay on its thatched roof, scanning the horizon. They spread out between mud houses and animal pens, crouching in the shade of the walls, their guns pointing in multiple directions. Platoons of soldiers, clad in black uniforms, their faces hidden under ski masks, descended and entered the village from different directions. Soldiers and their dog climb over a wall while clearing an abandoned village. ![]() They passed many villages, abandoned since the last war against Isis four years ago, their houses destroyed and their roofs flattened by explosives to prevent the inhabitants from returning. The convoy of Iraqi special forces ploughed on slowly, the heavy humvees moaning and creaking as they climbed and fell through ditches and canals. The mutual suspicion between authorities and the people was on full display in the Kirkuk operation. “There is little or no trust in the government, and local communities are collectively punished and treated as members of Isis until proven innocent,” the tribal leader said. He said that the same conditions that had allowed Isis to manipulate local anger and garner support persists. “They went underground to regroup and reorganise it took them less than three years to come back stronger.” “Isis now are in the same situation as al-Qaida after their defeat in 2009,” the tribal leader said. If they were left unchecked, they would soon manage to organise and regroup. One tribal leader whose men had fought against Isis in this region said that although the militants’ numbers are small at the moment, they are working to recreate the conditions that allowed them to control the area. “It’s in the centre of Iraq and connects the hills and mountains in the east, a perfect place to hide, to the deserts in the west that would lead to Syria. A senior intelligence officer stationed in the region said that this area, a triangle of land between Kirkuk in the north, Baiji in the west and Samara in the south, is very important to the group.
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