Shi’ite militia give Isis fighter fiery farewell
Footage of Shi’ite militiamen burning an Isis fighter as Iraqi forces advance on Ramadi have fuelled fears that the country could tip into sectarian war.
At least one of the men in the online video is wearing the insignia of the Popular Mobilisation, the umbrella body of Shi’ite volunteers leading the attempt to retake the capital of Anbar province from Isis.
‘‘These are the [Isis] fighters, see what happens to them,’’ he says.
It is unclear whether the victim was alive when he was strung up above a fire pit and set alight.
The United States and its coalition partners yesterday backed an Iraqi plan to use Shi’ite volunteers to recapture Ramadi, which fell to Isis last month. Anbar is the heartland of Iraq’s Sunni minority.
The footage emerged as Haider al-Abadi, Iraq’s prime minister, pleaded for more military support for his country at a meeting of foreign powers in Paris. He said the international community had to share the blame for the latest advances made by Isis, which routed Iraqi forces in Ramadi two weeks ago. ‘‘This is a failure on the part of the world. There is a lot of talk of support for Iraq, there is very little on the ground.’’
Western leaders from 20 countries said that they backed a controversial Iraqi strategy, agreed after the fall of Ramadi two weeks ago, for the use of both Shi’ite militiamen and freshly armed Sunni tribes to retake the lost territory. Most previously had opposed the use of sectarian militias, many of which are linked to Iran and have been accused of repeated human rights abuses. Antony Blinken, the US deputy secretary of state, said that it was the ‘‘right plan both politically and militarily for Iraq’’.
Abadi told reporters that his country was unable to adequately arm itself because of international sanctions against Russia, over the crisis in Ukraine, and Iran, over its nuclear ambitions. ‘‘The money is there sitting in the bank, but we cannot get [the weapons],’’ he said. ‘‘We are not asking for arms, but please let us purchase arms easily.’’
The US is also under pressure to assist further in the fight against Isis in Syria. Syrian rebels made a fresh appeal yesterday for coalition airstrikes to push back an Isis offensive endangering their sole supply route from Turkey into northern Aleppo province. The rebels were attacked by Isis as they were preparing to launch an offensive against regime forces in Aleppo.
Syria’s air force joined in the offensive on the rebels, dropping barrel bombs and other munitions on the area, prompting Washington to accuse the regime of ‘‘actively seeking to bolster’’ the jihadists against the rebels.
Mohammed Ghanem, a senior political advisor to the Syrian American Council, said rebel groups had appealed to the US to launch airstrikes against Isis positions in northern Aleppo months ago, when they were flying over the area on their way to bomb the jihadists around Kobani.
‘‘They refused, because they said that the strikes would help the rebels and hurt the regime, which would anger Iran.
‘‘They said they feared the Iranians would then use militias to attack American forces in Iraq,’’ he said.