Iraq holds military parade celebrating victory over ISIL
▶ Iraq’s future following its victory over ISIL simply cannot be isolated from Iran’s designs
Iraq’s armed forces held a military parade yesterday in Baghdad to celebrate the victory over ISIL.
Haider Al Abadi, the prime minister, made the announcement on Saturday.
Iraqi army units marched through the main square in central Baghdad as helicopters and fighter jets flew overhead.
Unlike Mr Abadi’s victory announcement, the parade was not broadcast live and only state media was allowed to attend.
Mr Abadi said Iraq had defeated the jihadists “through our unity and our determination” and declared yesterday a public holiday.
The ISIL extremists seized control of large parts of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014, declaring a cross-border caliphate and committing widespread atrocities.
At their height, the extremists threatened the country’s very existence. But with backing from a US-led coalition, Iraqi forces gradually retook control of all territory lost to ISIL over the past three years.
Lt Gen Paul E Funk II, commander of the US-led coalition against ISIL, sent his congratulations to the Iraqis and pledged continuing support.
“Much work remains, and we will continue to work by, with and through our Iraqi partners to ensure the enduring defeat of Daesh and prevent its ability to threaten civilisation, regionally and globally,” he said.
Iraqi forces captured the last ISIL strongholds in Iraq’s western deserts on Saturday and secured the country’s border with Syria.
But experts cautioned that ISIL remains a threat as an insurgent group capable of carrying out high-casualty bomb attacks.
ISIL’s fall has been as swift as its rise. The self-styled “caliphate” which claimed in 2014 to be invincible lost a succession of battles in Iraq and Syria over the last few months. On Saturday, the Iraqi prime minister, Haider Al Abadi, announced on television that the territory of his nation was now completely free of ISIL. “The dream of liberation is now a reality”, Mr Al Abadi declared. The Iraqi military has held a victory parade in Baghdad and, henceforth, December 10 will be celebrated as a national holiday across the country. No one should begrudge Iraq its moment of glory.
Military operations have reached an end, but as these pages have previously warned, the fight against ISIL is likely to rage on in different forms. As Gen Joseph Votel of US Central Command has cautioned, ISIL’s residual forces may regroup and operate in smaller cells. ISIL-related suicide bombers remain a persistent threat, as the horrifying attack on a Sufi mosque in Egypt’s north Sinai region last month showed. In addition to the immediate security challenges, there remains the climate of economic and political dispossession that enables extremists to thrive. As long as this climate is left unaddressed, the ugly ideology of ISIL will continue to corrupt minds and find converts to its nihilistic cause.
Iraq has also to confront the urgent challenge of revamping the paramilitary forces that were mobilised against ISIL. What does Iraq do with the forces beholden to Iran? Now that combat operations against ISIL are at an end, can these militias be prevented from becoming instruments for the advancement of Tehran’s interests? The future of Iraq following the fall of ISIL simply cannot be isolated from the designs of Iran. The priorities of the former, after more than a decade of war, revolve around the need for economic prosperity and political stability; the objectives of the latter are focused on establishing its own control over the region by breeding instability and spreading terror.
Speaking on Friday at the 13th Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, Sir John Jenkins, who has closely observed the Middle East for nearly four decades, noted that the dominant theme of the region during that period has been Iran’s rise on the wings of “radical and violent” ideologies. Iran, he said, has spread its influence by feeding on the “discontents” in this region. ISIL is defeated, but the prospect of such groups re-emerging cannot be discounted. At the same time, the threat from Iran and its proxies remains ever present. The victory against ISIL must not prompt anyone to overlook this danger.