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AUSTRALIA

Identifying the enemy in confused Iraq and Syria

  • 23 September 2014

The situation in Iraq and Syria is now so volatile and chaotic. Our Government stated that we were invited to help the Iraqi Government in its fight against ISIS, the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or Caliphate. We are already sending weapons to help those fighting ISIS, but it is a strange and malleable coalition opposed to ISIS, known in Arabic by its acronym ‘DAISH’.  

Firstly, ISIS evolved out of Al Qaida.  Al Qaida still exists, and it supports the Jabhat Al Nusra militia in Syria, but opposes ISIS for theological and political reasons. Jabhat Al Nusra (JN) is one of the major opposition groups in Syria and they want Sharia law and an Islamic State in Syria. They have clashed with ISIS in Syria and there are reports of some fighting between ISIS and JN.

Also fighting ISIS in Syria are other Islamic groups and the more political than religiously driven opposition groups.  These non-Islamic groups are commonly and collectively called the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and are seeking weapons from the US and its allies as well as Turkey and other countries in the Middle East.  They want a more democratic republic of Syria, not controlled by the Assad family or by one ethnic or religious group. The FSA has recently lost ground to both JN and ISIS as well as fighting against the Syrian Army of Assad.

The Assad Government is strongly supported by the Alawites, a Shia group. Internationally it is supported by Russia and Iran. There are also Alawites in Turkey, commonly they are Kurds. Other Shia groups are also supporting the Assad government such as Hezbollah from Lebanon, and the Badr Militia from Iraq. There are some important Shia religious sites in Syria and both Hezbollah and the Badr Militia state they are protecting these sites from the extremist ISIS.

There are also the Syrian Kurds (YPG – Peoples Protection Units) who have long sought autonomy in Syria and were seen as opponents of the Assad regime. The Syrian Kurds are mainly trying to protect their areas in the north east against ISIS, and they are reported to have co-operated with the FSA and more recently with Kurds in Iraq.

In Iraq, there are the Iraqi Kurds, whose militia is known as the Peshmerga. The Kurdish area of Iraq has long seen itself as autonomous and is almost a de facto state in the north east of Iraq. The Peshmerga
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