America’s most senior general is to voice Washington’s fear about Iran’s growing role in Iraq when he meets the Iraqi leader in Baghdad this week.
US military advisers and fighter aircraft are playing no part in the offensive against Islamic State in Tikrit, and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has expressed fears about the potential malign influence of Iran if Saddam Hussein’s birthplace is liberated.
Tikrit, with its largely Sunni population, is now surrounded by a force of 23,000 Iraqi troops, two thirds of whom consist of Shia militias advised, financed and armed by Iran.
General Dempsey is flying to Baghdad to meet Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, to put across US fears that victory will lead to sectarian tensions in Tikrit. Thousands of Sunni families have already fled.
“The important thing about this operation in Tikrit, in my view, is less about how the military aspect of it goes and more about what follows,” the general said en route to Baghdad. “If the Sunni population is then allowed to continue to live its life the way it wants to, and can come back to their homes, I think we’re in a really good place.”
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The US has been pressing Mr al- Abadi, who heads a Shia-led government, to pursue an inclusive strategy that preserves the rights of Sunni and Shia citizens. However, with increasing evidence that Baghdad is turning to Iran to fight its cause, the alarm is being sounded throughout the Gulf region.
General Dempsey said he would warn Mr Abadi that if Iran does not share America’s desire for a non-sectarian future for Iraq, it will just be “deferring another fight to another day”.
He was less than complimentary about the way the operation had been launched in Tikrit, describing the initial stages of the offensive as a traffic jam of Humvees and pick-up trucks, “not a sophisticated military manoeuvre”.