U.S. State Department said
on Wednesday that retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who is coordinating the
international coalition efforts against the Islamic State, was en route to the
region to engage Sunni tribal leaders in the fight.
The Washington Times, quoting unnamed sources, reports that the plan is
to recreate the “Sunni Awakening” that saw Iraqi tribal leaders take the fight
to Islamic State predecessor group, Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), between 2005 and
2007. Gen. Allen helped organize the Awakening
uprising while serving in Anbar at the time.
Creating a new Awakening is essential to sustaining
gains made by recent U.S.-led airstrikes. The effort will also involve building
a provincial guard force in western Iraq that could enlist local residents,
dominated by Sunni Arabs. (The Washington Times, 2 October)
Meanwhile on Syria, Gen.
Allen told CNN that it will take years to train moderate Syrian rebel forces to
fight effectively against the Islamic State.
“It is going to take a
while. It could take years, actually… And so we have to manage our
expectations,” Allan said on training Syrian rebels. (CNN/The Hill, 2 October)
2 comments:
Very good strategy and I hope the strategy beats ISIS. The vast land in Western Iraq and Eastern Syria cannot be monitored and guarded by regular troops, people need to be involved and this is the way to go!
There was quite a lot of "tribute" money paid by USG to the Sunni tribes last time to bring about the so-called "Awakening." Interesting to see if tribute is provided this time around, as well.
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