New life breathed into abandoned, old Iraqi tanks to battle IS

AL-HARTHA: In a military scrapyard in the southern Iraqi desert, abandoned army equipment sat for years waiting to be melted down to steel bars. Now, thanks to new conflict and a resourceful old mechanic, some of the rusty warhorses have won a reprieve.

Last June’s stunning offensive by Islamic State (IS) militants who control much of northern and western Iraq left the army in disarray and much of its US-supplied equipment was taken over by the advancing radical Sunni Muslim fighters.

Baghdad’s Shia-led government appealed for reinforcements from across the world to help it fight back. But for retired military mechanic Madhi al-Sukaini, the answer lay nearer to home. “The scrapyard where thousands of bits of army equipment are dumped is close to where I live and it was a constant reminder of the long war with Iran,” Sukaini said, referring to the relics from the 1980-88 conflict.

The scrapyard also contains guns, vehicles and tanks – some of them identifiable only by barrels still poking through the sand – from Iraq’s 1990-91 occupation and defeat in Kuwait and from the 2003 US-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

“One time I passed by and an idea flashed in my mind: Why don’t I repair some of the dumped armoured vehicles to help in the war against Daesh?” he said, referring to IS by its Arabic acronym.

So the 65-year-old veteran of Saddam’s army set to work with his sons to restore some of the old vehicles and supply them to Shia militias now fighting to push IS out of the late dictator’s home city of Tikrit.

“The idea came to me after I heard from the frontlines in Tikrit and Samarra that many fighters from Hashid Shaabi were killed in battles due to a lack of armoured vehicles,” said Sukaini. The Hashid Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) units of mainly Shia militia fighters have led the counter-offensive against IS. Fighting alongside the army, many of them go into battle with whatever arms and equipment they can muster – much of it supplied by Shia Iran.

Sukaini’s son Haitham, 31, head of the repairs team, said Sukaini’s years of experience meant they were able not just to restore the army equipment, but add their own improvements.

“We managed to turn an armoured personnel carrier into an assault vehicle by installing a 23mm machine gun on top with armour to protect the gunner. It’s ready to be used on the frontline near Tikrit,” Haitham said before jumping into another of his vehicles, a Russian- made BTR armoured transporter.

The repair crew had hung a banner over it with the name of Shia Islam’s revered Imam Hussein and printed the name “Duldul” on its metal frame, after the horse that Shia commander al-Mukhtar rode when he avenged Hussein’s death.

The next day, the vehicle was sent north to a position near the city of Samarra where the Ali al-Akbar brigade, one of the Shia militia, is operating. The team are currently working on three more vehicles.

“I’m proud to see this great work. Our fighters desperately need such armoured vehicles to stay safe from the enemy’s snipers and mortar attacks in the battle against Daesh,” said Ali Hummadi of the Ali alAkbar brigade, which is fighting in Samarra and Tikrit.

Iraqi security forces and militia fighters captured part of Tikrit’s northern Qadisiya district yesterday in their first advance into the city seized nine months ago by IS militants, security officials and the provincial governor said.

The home city of executed former president Saddam Hussein, Tikrit is the focus of Baghdad’s biggest counter-offensive to push back last year’s IS sweep through much of northern and central Iraq.

More than 20 000 troops and Iranianbacked Shia Muslim militias known as Hashid Shaabi, supported by local Sunni Muslim tribes, launched the offensive 10 days ago, seizing territory to the east and along the Tigris River to the north and south. – Reuters

‘ONE TIME I PASSED BY AND AN IDEA FLASHED IN MY MIND: WHY DON’T I REPAIR… THE VEHICLES?’