ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Jihadi fighters carried out mass executions of Iraqi soldiers after starting their blitz attacks two weeks ago, a report said Friday, as the US, Russia, Iran and Syria were thrown into an unintended alliance against insurgents bent on shifting the Middle East map.
But as they find themselves on the same side in the battle against insurgents that include jihadis and former loyalists of Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime, there is no accord among the global and regional powers on Iraq’s political battlefield.
In Baghdad, the embattled Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was in danger of being swept away by events, as parliament agreed to convene on Tuesday to choose a new government, and Iraqi politicians indicated that the two-term prime minister was no longer a viable option.
But the voices in Baghdad also acknowledged that removing Maliki would not be easy, because his party garnered a large number of votes in elections that preceded the Sunni insurgency, and because he is backed by powerful Iran.
Syria also has declared where it stands in the war, after its fighter jets carried out border raids on militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which is fighting to carve out an Islamic state that straddles both countries.
However, Washington is unlikely to stand by the man they have supported until now, after he blatantly rejected US and British appeals for a quick salvation government with robust roles for the large minority Sunnis and Kurds.
Meanwhile, US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that analysis of photographs and satellite imagery strongly indicates that ISIS killed between 160 and 190 men in at least two locations between June 11 and 14.
“The number of victims may well be much higher, but the difficulty of locating bodies and accessing the area has prevented a full investigation,” HRW said.
ISIS has itself claimed to have executed 1,700 “Shiite members of the army” after capturing Tikrit, Saddam’s birthplace and stronghold of his remaining loyalists. It has posted photographs online showing groups of apparently executed men. Iraq’s human rights minister confirmed the jihadis had executed 175 Iraqi Air Force recruits in the city.
This week, the UN’s children’s agency UNICEF upgraded the crisis in Iraq to its most severe designation, estimating the number of displaced people in the country at 1.5 million.
Many refugees, including thousands of Christians, have fled to the autonomous Kurdistan Region, Iraq’s only stable, peaceful and prospering portion.
Kurdish authorities have said that at least 300,000 displaced Iraqis have reached areas controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government, swelling the number of refugees that already include 250,000 displaced Kurds from the war in Syria.
On the battlefield, Iran was reported to be supplying advisors, elite forces and weapons to help Baghdad.
Iran and the US, which also has newly-arrived military advisors in Baghdad, were both reported to be flying their separate drone missions over Iraq.
Maliki, meanwhile, confirmed he was expecting a batch of used jets from Russia and Belarus within days.
"God willing, within one week this force will be effective and will destroy the terrorists' dens," he told the BBC.
Since meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry in Baghdad on Monday, Maliki has publicly voiced frustration at Western reluctance for military involvement, adding credence to reports he is turning to Iran and others for support.
In a television interview, Maliki was critical of the United States for what he said was the “long-winded” process of delivering 36 F-16 fighter jets that the Iraqi air force has bought, the first of which was delivered only last month. Maliki said that the militants' advance could have been avoided if he had the fighters.
"I'll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract (with the US)," Maliki said.
"We should have sought to buy other jet fighters like British, French and Russian to secure the air cover for our forces; if we had air cover we would have averted what had happened," he said.
The sectarian and ethnic forces let loose by the fighting and uprising, threaten to splinter Iraq into Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish portions, shifting the map of the Middle East.
Since they began their blitz just over a fortnight ago, the Sunni insurgents have destroyed half of the Iraqi army and inflicted $10 billion in losses, according to a senior Iraqi defense official.
