Residents alarmed as Iraqi soldiers spray Shiite

A traditional battle cry of Shiites has been spray-painted across buildings in Mosul by soldiers as they push out Daesh terrorists.
Troops and commanders say the slogan, sometimes sprayed over Daesh’s own graffiti, is meant to be an expression of victory for all Iraqis. But for many residents of the multi-ethnic but predominantly Sunni city, it is an explicitly sectarian taunt from the country’s Shiite majority, signaling more violence to come.
“Look at this. The army should be neutral and not painting such things on walls,” said Abdullah Shuwaib, a Sunni blacksmith who fled the fighting, pointing to a Shiite slogan painted next to a nearby grocery shop. “I’m not optimistic. Iraq won’t improve after Daesh is gone.”
Most residents have nothing good to say about Daesh or their brutal rule, which included flogging people for smoking, enslaving non-Muslim women and executing dissidents. The soldiers driving them out have frequently been warmly welcomed.
But if the government is hoping to sustain such loyalty on the streets, troops seem to be undermining it with open displays of sectarian symbols.
“We will not allow anyone to drag the city into trouble,” said a grocer who gave his name as Hisham, looking angry when asked about the slogans while gunfire rang in the distance.
“Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and Kurds, we all lived together in city without problems in the past,” he said, drawing support form other bystanders. “We want a united Iraq.”
Mainly Shiite militia groups, which now have official status but are separate from the army, have joined the Mosul offensive but are being kept far to the west of the city itself.
Sabah Al-Numan, spokesman for the US-trained Counter Terrorism Service leading the advance in eastern Mosul, said he did not know whether soldiers were behind the graffiti, but also excused such slogans as non-sectarian. “Our soldiers are busy fighting Daesh. They have no time to write this,” he said. While many residents looked apprehensive or annoyed when asked about the slogans, some tried to see a bright side.
“The slogans only show there is tolerance for all schools of Islam,” said Ahmed Adel, a 17-year-old high school student. An official from Iraq’s state-sanctioned Shiite militias says Daesh militants have breached their defenses at a village west of the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar.
Reached by telephone near Tal Afar, the official says the attack on the village of Sharea took place Friday night. Fighting is continuing on Saturday, he added, without giving details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
Daesh, meanwhile, said on Saturday the attack on the village began with a suicide car bombing that killed and wounded “dozens” of militiamen. A “multi-pronged” attack on the village followed, forcing the militiamen to flee, it added.
Separately, forces from the Iraqi Army retook four villages from Daesh northeast of Mosul on Saturday, the Joint Operations Command said.
The recapture by the army’s 16th division of the villages between Bashiqa and Mosul clears the way for Iraqi forces to enter the city from the northeast.
Meanwhile, the Turkish military killed 20 fighters from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) after they tried to attack army bases in the southeastern Hakkari province, the military said on Saturday.
The fighters crossed into Turkey from northern Iraq and attempted to launch attacks on military bases in the mountainous border region, the military said, without giving further details.
Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast has been rocked by violence since a 2-1/2 year cease-fire between the government and the PKK broke down in July last year. The PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, first took up arms in 1984.

Source: Arab News