Iraq News.

• MIDDLE EAST NEWS
• NOVEMBER 13, 2010

Iraqi Insurgents Battle for Dominance

By SAM DAGHER

EPA

Christians carry the coffin of a priest killed in the Oct. 31 church siege.

BAGHDAD—A fight for dominance has intensified among insurgent groups in Iraq, American and Iraqi officials say, as militants representing competing sects and political factions redouble efforts to gain power through violence in anticipation of next year's full withdrawal of U.S. forces.

The violence is unlikely to be stanched by a still-tenuous deal this week to form a coalition government, officials say.

Lawmakers were expected to resume deliberating on Saturday on key elements of the U.S.-backed deal, which if implemented would see religious Shiites represented by current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hang on to power but also could give secular and Sunni nationalist figures a major role in the next government.

Officials had previously blamed a resurgence of violence this year on the lead-up to March parliamentary polls and the political vacuum that followed the inconclusive results.

A Host of Competing Militias With a Trail of Victims

Main Sunni Groups

Islamic State of Iraq

• Affiliated with al Qaeda but dominated by Iraqis. Believed responsible for most high-casualty suicide bombings.
• Goal: An Islamic caliphate in Iraq.
• Leaders: Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, both killed in April. Group operates in decentralized cells.
• Notable strikes: Group claims 17 blasts on Nov. 2 on mostly Shiite targets in Baghdad, killing nearly 70 people. Siege of Christian church in Baghdad on Oct. 31.

High Command for Jihad and Liberation

• Front of 22 insurgent groups, largely loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
• Goal: Reinstate Baath Party rule
• Leader: Hussein's deputy Izzat al-Douri.
• Notable strikes: High-profile attacks on U.S. troops; claimed downing of two U.S. helicopters in 2009, killing four soldiers.

Ansar al-Sunna

• Indigenous Sunni extremist group with many Kurds in its ranks.
• Goal: Impose Islamic rule.
• Leader: Abu Abdullah al-Shafie, a Kurd, captured in Baghdad in May
• Notable strikes: February 2004 suicide bombing of Kurdish party offices in Erbil kills more than 100 people.

Main Shiite Groups

Promised Day Brigades

• Shiite militia.
• Goal: Drive out U.S. forces and preserve Shiite-dominated rule.
• Leader: Iran-based cleric Moqtada al-Sadr
• Notable strikes: Intensified campaign of rocket attacks against American facilities this year, U.S. says.

League of the Righteous

• Shiite militia.
• Goal: Drive out U.S. forces and preserve Shiite-dominated rule.
• Leader: Qais al-Khazaali, recently released from U.S. custody as part of a prisoners-for-hostages swap; now based in Iran.
• Notable strikes: Kidnapping in January of U.S. contractor Issa Saloumi, released in March.

Brigades of Hezbollah

• Shiite militia.
• Goal: Install Shiite, Iranian-style clerical rule.
• Leader: U.S. says group is controlled by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps. Iran denies this.
• Notable strikes: Rocket attacks against American facilities.

Sources: U.S. Army, Iraqi Ministry of Interior, WSJ research

Now, as Mr. Maliki, with a one-month deadline, begins forming a government and handing out responsibilities to competing groups, Iraq's feuding leaders have continued to jockey for position and the insurgents battle for power is likely to persist.

Parliament began implementing the deal Thursday, but was interrupted when the Sunni-dominated bloc, Iraqiya, stormed out, saying their interests hadn't been accommodated.

Sunnis have fueled much of the insurgency since the majority Shiites came to power after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, but political leaders across the spectrum have warned of dire consequences if they and their partisans are marginalized in the next government.

Adding to the growing threat, militants are using more sophisticated and precise methods to strike rival sects, government officials and security forces. A renewed campaign of attacks, including a series of strikes against Baghdad's Christian community, have left over 150 dead since Oct. 31.

Many insurgent groups share the common goals of driving out U.S. forces, dislodging the government and taking control. From there, interests diverge.

Active insurgents include followers of late strongman Saddam Hussein seeking to return his Baathist party to power; an al Qaeda-linked group that wants to establish an Islamic caliphate; and Shiite militias that U.S. officials say are getting Iran's help to attack U.S. assets and advance Tehran's interests in Iraq, a charge Iran denies.

"All of them are competing for influence and resources," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mike Marti, a senior military intelligence officer based in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. "It has to do with positioning themselves," he said, for after the final pullout of U.S. troops, which is slated for the end of 2011.

Ayad Allawi, the Iraqiya leader who was seeking the prime minister post but later said he would consider the chairmanship of a new policy council as part of the power-sharing deal, warned in an interview last month that "definitely things will go bad" if his bloc is sidelined and little was done to further national reconciliation.

Mr. Allawi's bloc swept Iraq's Sunni-dominated provinces and was endorsed by many Baathist sympathizers. He said he has no ties to the insurgency.

Mr. Maliki said last week that Baathists and al Qaeda-tied militants seeking to derail government formation and take power were behind the latest bout of bloodshed in Baghdad.

Statements on jihadist websites and attributed to the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq said Iraq's Christians were "legitimate targets"—and promised the country's Shiite majority "more blood-soaked days."

While al Qaeda and Baathist insurgents seek to dismantle the Shiite-led government, one group that has fought its way to political relevance within Shiite-dominated rule is the militia affiliated with Iran-based cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. His movement—which is now linked to the Promised Day Brigades militia—performed well in March elections and has joined forces with Mr. Maliki.

American and Iraqi security forces have claimed major victories against some of Iraq's most lethal groups in recent years. Violence, as measured by the number of daily incidents and casualties, remains low compared with their peak in 2007, according to the U.S. military.

Though nearly 50,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, the official combat mission ended on Aug. 31. After that, officials say, insurgents intensified a campaign, using new tactics, to discredit and cripple Iraq's security forces. Commanders say the forces, which numbered almost 800,000 at the end of September, are capable of repulsing the new threats.

"There is a concerted effort to break the back of the security forces," said Hussein Kamal, the intelligence chief at Iraq's Ministry of Interior.

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Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

A Sadr supporter in Baghdad.

Mr. Kamal said so-called sticky bombs—explosives attached magnetically under vehicles—and silencer-equipped pistols have emerged as weapons of choice across the spectrum of insurgent groups. Such techniques, officials say, allow attackers to pinpoint who they strike and to operate with greater stealth when heavy security limits their mobility.

Although their tactics may be similar, militant affiliations vary widely by region and have splintered over the years along sectarian and ideological lines, as well as over leadership tussles. The picture is muddied further by a spike in criminal activity, such as bank and jewelry-store robberies, that have been blamed on cash-starved insurgents, gangs and corrupt police officers.

"It's a Rubik's Cube out here," says Brig. Gen. Ken Tovo, one of two deputy commanders for the U.S. Army in Baghdad and the western Anbar province.

Brig. Gen. Ralph Baker, the other deputy, said Shiite militias were competing to take credit for the final U.S. pullout. "They want the bragging rights at some point in time when we are out of here," he said.

—Ben Lando, Munaf Ammar and Jabbar Yaseen contributed to this article================================================