Oct 29, 2014

The victory of the Iraqi armed forces and militias aligned with the government over Islamic State (IS) militants in the Sunni town of Jurf al-Sakhar has been hailed as an important one by a number of conservative Iranian news outlets.

The battle for the strategic city south of Baghdad is significant in that control of Jurf al-Sakhar will enable the Iraqi army to cut off IS from its strongholds in Anbar province. The city was won solely by Iraqi forces without coalition air power, and set the blueprint for the next battle between the Iraqi army and IS in the strategic cities of Amiriya and Fallujah.

Fars News Agency interviewed an Iraqi security official who said a number of forces were involved in the victory at Jurf al-Sakhar, including volunteer forces, the Badr Organization, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Iraqi Hezbollah and Brigades of Islam. The commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that no coalition airstrikes were involved in the battle, a claim repeated by a number of other Iranian news agencies.

According the commander, these forces are now preparing for the next battles in Amiriya, in Western Baghdad, and Fallujah, in Anbar province, where the IS militants fled from Jurf al-Sakhar. He said that “similar operational tactics” would be used in these two cities.

“The imminent battle in Amiriya and Fallujah are important regions for IS, and they know it to be the most important regions for their strategy, and if they lose these two cities they will be facing severe retreat,” he said. The cities were described as key to winning over all of Sunni-dominated Anbar province, where Baghdad has long struggled to retake control.