Share :

Download PDF :

TELEGRAPH, 30 May 2016

Whatever the result of the battle for the Iraqi city of Fallujah, one thing is already certain: the residents of that city have suffered dreadfully under the rule of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Some have starved to death. Others have been brutally murdered after refusing to fight for the militants. Still others have been killed by land mines and snipers as they tried to escape.

It seems equally certain that even if Iraqi government forces succeed in reclaiming the city, more will suffer before victory is complete. Isil has trapped 50,000 people in Fallujah, deliberately exposing them to harm.

The lesson of this suffering is that Isil, for all its professed religious zeal, harms Muslims more than any other group. This is an important point overlooked by many on the anti-war Left of politics including Jeremy Corbyn and his ilk. They want to portray Western interventions in the Middle East as some sort of attack on Islam. In fact, action against monsters such as the Isil fanatics is profoundly in the interests of Muslims.

The assault on Fallujah is being backed by Iran, which seeks ever-greater influence in Iraq through Iraq’s Shia Muslim population. Isil, an extremist offshoot of Sunni Islam, delights in that expansion, since it seeks to foment conflict between Sunni and Shia. The best answer to its machinations is a truly multi-denominational and multi-ethnic state in Iraq.

The Baghdad government of Haider al-Abadi, a Shia, should receive more support from Western powers to help him to resist the influence of Tehran. A victory over Isil in Fallujah that simply increases sectarian divisions within Iraq will be Pyrrhic.