BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni militants on Sunday captured two
border crossings, one along the frontier with Jordan and the other with
Syria, security and military officials said, as they pressed on with
their offensive in one of Iraq’s most restive regions.
The fall
dealt Iraq’s embattled Shiite prime minister a further blow and brought
the war to the doorstep of Jordan, a key ally of the United States that
also borders embattled Syria to its north.
The blitz by the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq’s vast western desert take
the al-Qaida-breakaway group closer to its dream of carving out a purist
Islamic state straddling both Syria and Iraq.
Controlling the
borders with Syria will also help it supply fellow fighters in Syria
with weaponry looted from Iraqi warehouses, significantly reinforcing
its ability to battle beleaguered Syrian government forces.
If
they succeed in their quest, they could further unsettle the already
volatile Middle East and serve as a magnet for Jihadists from across the
world — much like al-Qaida attracted extremists in Taliban-ruled
Afghanistan.
The Iraqi officials said the militants of the Islamic
State took over the Turaibil crossing with Jordan and the al-Walid
crossing with Syria after government forces there pulled out.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The
capture of the two crossings follows the fall on Friday and Saturday of
the towns of Qaim, Rawah, Anah and Rutba They are all in the Sunni
dominated Anbar province, where the militants have since January
controlled the city of Fallujah and parts of the provincial capital
Ramadi.
Rutba is on the main highway from Baghdad to the two
border crossing and the capture has effectively cut the Iraqi capital’s
main land route to Jordan. It is a key artery for passengers and goods
and has been infrequently used in recent months because of deteriorating
security.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he
was opposed to any U.S. intervention in the Iraqi crisis, accusing
Washington of fomenting the unrest. His comments appeared to quash
recent speculation that the two rivals might cooperate in addressing the
shared threat posed by the Islamic extremists.
The two crossings
and the four towns are the first seized in Anbar since the Islamic State
and its allies overran the city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi.
Government troops have not been able to dislodge them after months of
fighting.
The capture of Rawah on the Euphrates River and the
nearby town of Anah appeared to be part of a march toward a key dam in
the city of Haditha, the destruction of which would damage the country’s
electrical grid and cause major flooding. The dam was built in 1986.
Iraqi
military officials said more than 2,000 troops were quickly dispatched
to the site of the Haditha dam to protect it. They spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Chief
military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, acknowledged the fall
of the Anbar towns, saying government forces had made a tactical retreat
and planned to retake them. He provided no further details. There has
been no official comment on the capture of the al-Walid and Turaibil
crossings.
The Islamic State and allied militants have carved out a large fiefdom along the Iraqi-Syrian border.
Al-Maliki’s
Shiite-dominated government has struggled to push back against the
Sunni militants, who have seized large swaths of the north since taking
control of the second-largest city of Mosul on June 10.
Iraq has
requested U.S. airstrikes to help halt the advance, but President Barack
Obama has yet to order any. He has instead called on Iraqi leaders to
form a more representative government in thinly-veiled criticism of
al-Maliki.
Khamenei on Sunday said he was opposed to any U.S. intervention in the country.
"We
strongly oppose the intervention of the U.S. and others in the domestic
affairs of Iraq," Khamenei, who has the final say over state policy,
was quoted as saying by the IRNA state news agency, in his first
reaction to the crisis.
"The main dispute in Iraq is between those
who want Iraq to join the U.S. camp and those who seek an independent
Iraq," said Khamenei. "The U.S. aims to bring its own blind followers to
power."
The U.S. has long accused Iran of meddling in Iraq,
including organizing and backing Shiite militias following the 2003
invasion.
Al-Maliki, who has led the country since 2006 and has
not yet secured a third term after April’s parliamentary elections, has
increasingly turned to Iranian-backed Shiite militias and volunteers to
bolster his beleaguered security forces.
Thousands of Shiite
militiamen paraded through Baghdad and other cities on Saturday,
brandishing a massive arsenal in a show of force that promised to ramp
up sectarian tensions.
Al-Maliki has come under growing pressure
to reach out to disaffected Kurds and Sunnis, with many blaming his
failure to promote reconciliation for the country’s worst crisis since
the U.S. military withdrew in late 2011.
Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani, the most respected voice for Iraq’s Shiite majority, on
Friday joined calls for al-Maliki to reach out to the Kurdish and Sunni
minorities.
The U.S. has been drawn back into the conflict. It is
deploying up to 300 military advisers to join some 275 troops in and
around Iraq to provide security and support for the U.S. Embassy and
other American interests.
President Barack Obama, in an interview
with CBS’ "Face the Nation" airing Sunday, warned that the
al-Qaida-inspired militants in Iraq could grow in power and destabilize
the region.
He said Washington must remain "vigilant" but would
not "play whack-a-mole and send US troops occupying various countries
wherever these organizations pop up."
Iraq enjoyed several years
of relative calm before violence spiked a year ago after al-Maliki moved
to crush a Sunni protest movement against alleged discrimination and
abuse at the hands of his government and security forces.
In a
separate incident on Sunday, Sunni militants in control of a small
northern town handed over to authorities in the northern oil city of
Kirkuk the decomposing bodies of 15 Shiites, according to the city’s
deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef.
Residents
of the town, Besher, said the Shiites were hung from street lights and a
water tank for days. The circumstances of their deaths were not
immediately known and the residents requested anonymity for fear of
reprisals.
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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran contributed to this report.
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