This does not look good.
ISIS militants press forward, threaten to capture more Iraqi cities - CNN.com
CNN) – Iraqi cities seem to be falling with relative ease, unaided by a military that has bolted and a militant group bent on continuing its march forward.
Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, is already in the control of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Much of Tikrit is as well. And on Thursday, an audio recording purportedly from the Islamist militants threatened a takeover of more, including the capital Baghdad.
“Continue your march as the battle is not yet raging,” ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani purportedly said on the message posted early Thursday on the group’s media website.
“It will rage in Baghdad and Karbala. So be ready for it.”
CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the 17-minute long audio or the time of its recording.
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“Don’t give up a hand’s width of ground you’ve liberated,” the voice says in apparent encouragement of ISIS fighters.
The devastating militant advance, which had been building for some time, is proving an object lesson of much that is wrong in Iraq and the region – growing sectarian tensions at home and a festering civil war over the border in Syria.
It also shows that the extremists can strike swiftly and effectively against Iraq’s American-trained security forces.
Open to U.S. strikes
It came as no surprise when Iraq indicated a willingness Wednesday for the United States’ military to conduct airstrikes against the radical Islamist militants.
Washington has provided $15 billion in training, weapons and equipment to the Iraqi government.
But several U.S. officials said the situation is “extremely urgent” and the U.S. is looking to see what more support it can provide Iraq.
Part of the help involves giving Iraq intelligence it can use to go after ISIS.
The country can use all the help it can get.
When the militants attacked the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit, government forces took off, leaving their weapons behind.
There clearly was a breakdown in Iraqi security, a U.S. official said. But Washington believes it was a combination of factors, including the fact that Iraqi forces were already stretched thin by limited success against ISIS in another province, the insurgency-racked Anbar.
Rapid takeovers
For now, ISIS militants have complete control of Mosul and nearly-complete control of Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Mosul, a predominantly Sunni city with 1.6 million residents, collapsed swiftly Tuesday. The heavily armed radicals overran police stations, freed more than 1,000 prisoners from the city jail and took over the international airport.
Photos: Iraqi civilians flee Mosul Photos: Iraqi civilians flee Mosul
Map: Unrest in IraqMap: Unrest in Iraq
American-trained Iraqi forces ran in the face of the onslaught, leaving behind uniforms, weapons and armored vehicles.
Since then, more than 500,000 people have fled the fighting there, the International Organization for Migration said Wednesday.
On Wednesday, militants raided the Turkish Consulate in Mosul, capturing 48 people, including diplomats.
“If any harm is done to any of our citizens, it will not go unanswered,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. “No one should test Turkey.”
The militants also seized parts of Baiji, a small Iraqi town that has the country’s largest oil refinery.
For the government to reinforce its troops in Mosul, it needs to drive them through Baiji. If ISIS controls the town, the government’s task will be much harder.
Silver lining
One silver lining, the American officials said, is that Iraq seems to have a coordinated approach with the semiautonomous Kurdish regional government. It appears Iraqi forces will team up with Kurdish fighters, known as the Peshmerga, to fight ISIS.
Peshmerga forces took up positions in southwest Kirkuk after militants took over several areas north and west of the city, and the Iraqi army withdrew, according to police officials there.
They were beaten back once, and the Iraqi government hopes they can be again.
“This is not the end, we are very confident that we will be able to correct the path and to overcome mistakes,” the Iraqi defense ministry said on its website.
During the U.S. presence in Iraq, militants were responsible for the deaths of many U.S. troops in the western part of the country. With American help, Iraqi tribal militias put ISIS on the defensive.
But when U.S. troops left the country, the extremist militants found new leadership, grew stronger while in Syria, and returned to Iraq, making military gains often off the backs of foreign fighters drawn to Syria’s conflict.
The depth of control
ISIS, also known by some as ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), wants to establish an Islamic caliphate, or state, stretching across the region.
Earlier this year, it wrested the city of Falluja and parts of Ramadi. Across the border in Syria, it controls towns like Raqqa.
That it is capable of fighting the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on one hand, its fellow radicals on another and the Iraqi government on top of that is an indication of the depth to which ISIS has established itself in the region.
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department updated its travel warning to Iraq. Terrorist activity and violence, it said, is at “levels unseen since 2007.”
