Why did the Iraqi army flee another city in the face of ISIS?

Islamic State (ISIS) militants captured Anbar’s largest city of Ramadi on Sunday, forcing Iraqi troops to retreat. Hundreds of people were killed during the offensive, many of them civilians. The Iraqi government has deployed at least 3,000 Shiite militiamen nearby Ramadi in response.

 

In the past 72 hours US-led airstrikes have conducted 19 airstrikes in areas surrounding Ramadi, targeting ISIS.

 

The Iraqi army left behind at least 30 armoured vehicles and dozens of weapons while retreating Ramadi. The pictures of weapons left behind surfaced on various ISIS affiliated social networking sites, boasting of their victory in the face of what seems to be a crippled army.

 

This is not the first time that the Iraqi army has fled in the face of ISIS, and often leaving weapons behind for them. The question that has prompted much-heated discussions online has been — why? The Iraqi army is well-equipped and trained, but has consistently failed to drive ISIS militants out, while the poorly equipped Kurds in Kobani canton, fought ISIS vehemently during a 134-day siege despite lack of sufficient equipment.

 

Ramadi did not fall to thousands of ISIS fighters, but surprisingly to 150 fighters in the face of an army of 6,000 according to a former US Central Command Adviser Ali Khedery. 

 

Although the US Secretary of State John Kerry has downplayed the significance of the defeat by saying, “I am absolutely confident in the days ahead that will be reversed”, the damage to Iraqi army’s reputation has plundered. 

 

Official statistics indicate that at least 500,000 people live in Anbar city, which is a predominately Sunni area. Between 2012 and 2013 there were large-scale protests and strikes against the former Prime Minister and current Vice President Nuri al-Maliki. The tensions between Shiites and Sunni were furthered, and Maliki’s troops were deployed to quell protests. 

 

Rafi al-Issawi, the former Sunni Deputy Prime Minister argued that US should directly arm Sunnis to keep the Iraqi state unified, while speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington. This might help ease tensions between Iraq’s Sunni population, which has suffered alienation by the previous Iraqi cabinet.

 

The Iraqi army’s defeat has not only rocked their confidence and morale but the public’a faith in their ability to function as a capable army to defend the nation against a notorious threat. Perhaps, there’s more at play than we imagine because the Iraqi army’s incompetence further legitimises the deployment of Shiite militiamen in Sunni-populated areas, which has been opposed by Sunni groups, fearing reprisals by the militiamen.