Iraqi forces launched new initiatives in a predominantly Sunni area of Baghdad that has been the exclusive turf of militants for a year, as the security forces also announced their control over other besieged Sunni areas after a week of heavy fighting.
Even so, another area that had been cleared of armed militants was reoccupied "overnight" after security forces stood down.
Residents of Ghazalia and 'Amariya -- both those remaining in the areas and those displaced from them -- will be wondering what the next chapter holds for their neighborhoods.
The official spokesperson of the security plan, Col. Qasim Atta, announced Tuesday that the security forces had imposed their control over areas of Ghazaliya and 'Amiriya, and had expelled militants from these areas. The spokesman said that over 100 gunmen had been arrested over the course of the operations, according to reports in Arabic-language media.
Atta called for the state service organizations to return to operate in the areas and asked for local councils to facilitate the return of residents to the areas, after the operations were completed.
Slogger sources in Ghazaliya reported that the area was surrounded for a week by the Iraqi forces and the Kurdish Pesh Merga. Iraqi forces conducted house-to-house searches houses for arms and suspects. Militant groups in Ghazalia tried to exploit the house-to-house operations of the Iraqi forces against them, rigging buildings with bombs to attack police forces as they enter. The Iraqi military deployed bomb-defusing units as a countermeasure.
Sources say that the Iraqi forces “treated the civilians well.” Predominantly Sunni areas of Baghdad have often complained of a very heavy hand on the part of government forces during the security plan.
In spite of the announced progress of the Iraqi operations in Ghazaliya, the future of the neighborhood is far from certain. In other parts of the city, security forces have displaced militant groups, only to see them return after the end of major operations.
For example, in the al-Fadl area in the center of the city, militants returned to the district overnight after the area had been cleared by the security forces, eyewitnesses report to Slogger. Residents describe the presence of the armed groups in the neighborhood as back to “full strength,” and will appeal for the security forces to intervene yet again. Militants have been re-occupying homes in the area by force, sources report.
Baghdad residents report the fighting between armed Sunni groups and elements described as Mahdi Army in al-Muwasalat and al-Ra'y overnight.
These areas, along with parts of al-Rashid, al-Shurta, and al-Turath districts, are known as the turf of the militant Sunni Omar Brigades. The only forces that have faced off against these forces on a consistent basis have been the Mahdi Army fighters, residents report. The Omar Brigades are so well dug-in in the areas that Iraqi security forces have made only a few incursions into these districts in the last six months, according to Slogger sources.
Relative calm is reported in al-'Amil, where similar fighting had been occurring over the last few days.
As such, it came as a surprise to residents that the Iraqi security forces began fresh activity in the al-Duwanim area, near al-Muwasalat and al-Ra'y, according to a local source. Iraqi forces deployed in the area and started conducting raids, one resident reported. Al-Duwanim has been under control of armed Sunni militants, reportedly foreign fighters from other Arab countries and Afghanistan, for the past year.
