Iraq Shi'ite militia take lead in campaign to reverse Islamic State gains

Iraq’s Shi'ite paramilitaries said on Tuesday they had taken charge of the campaign to drive Islamic State from the western province of Anbar, giving the operation an openly sectarian codename that could infuriate its Sunni Muslim population. The United States described the codename as “unhelpful” while France, which will host a meeting of nations fighting Islamic State next week, accused the Shi'ite-led government of failing to represent fully the interests of all Iraqis. The Iraqi government is scrambling to reverse the fall of Ramadi, its biggest military setback in nearly a year. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed to recapture the city, the Anbar provincial capital, within days.

The Labaik Ya Hussein operation is led by the Hashid Shaabi in cooperation and coordination with the armed forces there. We believe that liberating Ramadi will not take long.

spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi

A spokesman for the Shi'ite militias, which are known as Hashid Shaabi, said the codename for the new operation would be “Labaik ya Hussein.” This is a slogan in honor of a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed killed in a seventh century battle that led to the schism between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims. The loss of Ramadi a week ago was swiftly followed by the fall of the UNESCO heritage city of Palmyra in Syria, the two biggest gains by Islamic State fighters since the United States began air strikes on them in Iraq and Syria last year. Its gains in the past week have raised doubts about the U.S. strategy to bomb the militants from the air but leave fighting on the ground to local Iraqi and Syrian forces.

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