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Is Iraq losing control of its biggest province? Iraqi insurgents 'seize new city'
(5 months later)
Al-Qaeda-linked fighters and Sunni tribes have taken control of key cities in Iraq's large Anbar province. Here is a guide to what's happening. Jihadist militants have taken control of Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, the most dramatic success yet in a rapidly expanding insurgency that appears to have caught the authorities off guard.
What's going on?What's going on?
In short, the government lost control of the strategic cities of Ramadi and Falluja, to the west of Baghdad. Deadly clashes erupted in Mosul on 6 June, when militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), an offshoot of al-Qaeda, launched an assault on the northern city with allied Sunni Arab tribesmen.
In Falluja, Sunni militants from an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), joined forces with armed men from leading anti-government Sunni tribes and took over. On Monday, the governor of Nineveh province urged residents to "stand firm". But within hours, Atheel al-Nujaifi was forced to flee before the provincial government's headquarters was overrun by hundreds of men armed with rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles and machine-guns.
In nearby Ramadi anti-government Sunni tribes also took charge after the army withdrew amid rising anti-government sentiment. Some militants, possibly linked to ISIS, have been trying to assert their control in a few parts of Ramadi, but are being challenged by the tribes. By Tuesday, tens of thousands of residents had left for the nearby Kurdish-controlled region as the militants seized Mosul's airport, army operations centre and other installations. They also set fire to police stations and freed hundreds of detainees. Police and soldiers dropped their weapons and abandoned their posts as the assault became a rout.
Convoys of militants moved southwards on Wednesday, first attacking the town of Baiji and then reportedly overrunning Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, the administrative capital of Salahuddin province.
In pictures: Iraqis flee Mosul
Profile: Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)
Why is Mosul so important?
Mosul is the second city to fall to ISIS this year, after Falluja. However, its loss is much more serious for the government, as it is the main city of northern Iraq and a major political and economic centre, , with a population of 1.8 million. It is also gateway to Syria and Turkey.
After the US-led invasion in 2003, Mosul became a bastion of resistance to the occupation, which its Sunni Arab majority opposed and Kurdish minority supported. Years of bombings and shootings by militants linked to al-Qaeda led to an exodus of thousands of people.
It was not until 2009 that a semblance of normality returned to Mosul, but jihadists maintained a firm hold. Sectarian violence increased after US troops withdrew in 2011. It has surged since early 2013 when Shia Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government launched an offensive against ISIS while also moving against Sunni opposition figures and protesters.
Analysis: How to recover Iraq's second city
Paragliding in Mosul, a way to shake off recent past
How has the government responded?
The prime minister has pressed parliament to declare a 30-day state of emergency that would give security forces the "necessary powers" to regain control.
A vote will be held on Thursday. Mr Maliki also said citizens would be armed to fight the militants.
The sudden collapse of the security forces in Mosul alarmed the US. It called on the Iraqi government to "step up to the plate", warning that ISIS was "a threat to the entire region". It pledged to help Baghdad "push back this aggression".
Can the government regain control?
The Iraqi government is believed to have about 930,000 security personnel under its command, so on paper they ought to be able to easily overcome the hundreds of militants who attacked Mosul.
However, the same might have been said in late December after ISIS militants and allied tribesmen seized parts of Ramadi, the capital of the western province of Anbar, and most of the nearby city of Falluja amid clashes triggered by the clearance of two protest camps.
Mr Maliki has vowed to crush the militants, but they are still in control six months on, holding off troops. The UN says the fighting in Anbar has displaced some 480,000 people.
Soldiers have become disillusioned by the conflict against ISIS and brutal attacks by the group - including beheadings and crucifixions - leading many to desert. Commanders told the New York Times they were losing as many as 300 soldiers a day to desertions, deaths and injuries.
Analysis: Anbar violence goes beyond sectarian conflictAnalysis: Anbar violence goes beyond sectarian conflict
Iraq army asks tribal leaders to end violence
But there's always violence, so why is this so important?
Anbar is Iraq's biggest province, has a Sunni Arab majority and borders Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
It is the first time insurgents have controlled territory in Anbar province since 2004, when they were driven out by US-backed Iraqi troops.
The takeover is a serious threat to the authority of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and a major setback to efforts to quell sectarian violence in Iraq, which has seen an upsurge since US troops completed their withdrawal two years ago.
Sunni Arabs, a minority in Iraq but who held power under Saddam Hussein, have long complained of discrimination by Mr Maliki's Shia-led government and of being targeted by the security forces.
Ramadi and Falluja have about one million people between them and the loss of these two key cities would embolden militants and disgruntled Sunni communities and threaten the unity of Iraq.
Anbar was at the heart of the insurgency which followed the US-invasion of Iraq in 2003 and resistance there has never been extinguished.
Iraq's rising violence explained in 90 seconds
Violence in Iraq sparks new sectarian displacementViolence in Iraq sparks new sectarian displacement
Quick guide: Sunnis and ShiasQuick guide: Sunnis and Shias
What triggered the unrest? How much of a threat is ISIS to Iraq's stability?
The immediate catalyst was the break-up by troops of a year-old Sunni protest camp in Ramadi at the end of December 2013. Mr Maliki said the camp had "turned into the headquarters for the leadership of al-Qaeda". In 2009, then CIA Director Michael Hayden said al-Qaeda was "on the verge of a strategic defeat in Iraq". Today, its successor control territories stretching for hundreds of miles through Nineveh, Anbar and into Syria, where it hopes to establish an Islamic state.
There was a violent response from Sunni militants, and to defuse the situation Mr Maliki agreed to withdraw the army from urban areas. ISIS has gained strength and momentum from the situation in Syria, from where it has transferred recruits, sophisticated weapons and resources to fight in Iraq since 2012.
However, as soon as soldiers left their posts, militants appeared on the streets of Ramadi, Falluja and Tarmiya, storming police stations, freeing prisoners and seizing weapons. It has also skilfully exploited the political stand-off between the central government and the minority Sunni Arab community, which complains that Mr Maliki is monopolising power and targeting them by pursuing policies like the mass arrests in the name of fighting terrorism.
Mr Maliki reversed his decision the next day but troops were unable to regain full control of Ramadi, while government officials acknowledged that Falluja was outside state control. According to the UN, more than 8,860 people were killed in Iraq in 2013 - the highest number of deaths since the peak of the sectarian insurgency between 2006 and 2008. So far this year, more than 4,700 have died.
How did militants manage to take over in Fallujah? Iraq: Bloodshed and strife cast pall over polls
Anbar province borders Syria, and in recent months fighters from the branch of ISIS in Syria have crossed into Iraq and helped fuel the insurgency there, according to the Iraqi government. Iraq: A proxy battleground in a regional war
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the forerunner of ISIS, was almost stamped out after its defeat in 2004, but it established itself in Syria after the conflict broke out there and is now the strongest jihadist rebel group there.
ISIS has been able to establish strongholds across the porous border in northern and eastern Syria, out of the reach of Iraqi security forces.
Anti-government Sunni tribes in Fallujah sided with ISIS, facilitating their takeover, viewing the militants as fellow Sunnis who support them in their struggle against the Shia-led government. However in Ramadi there is a semi-consensus among Sunni tribes to stand up to ISIS who they regard as terrorists who tarnish the image of the Sunni heartland.
Will the government be able to regain control?
There is no doubt that al-Qaeda is a massive threat to security in Iraq. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has estimated that ISIS has 12,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.
However, the Iraqi government is believed to have about 930,000 security personnel under its command, spread across the army, police force and intelligence services.
Mr Maliki has overcome similar challenges to his authority before. In 2008, he launched an operation that saw four army divisions sent to Basra to seize control of the southern city from Shia militias.
He then imposed state control over the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, which had been run by the Mehdi Army of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said that while Washington will help Iraq against the militants, it was a "fight that belongs to the Iraqis", and that US soldiers would not return.
In 2004 US troops fought two major battles with Sunni militants for control of Fallujah, which saw some of the bloodiest combat Americans had faced since Vietnam.