Iraq security forces pick their battles

[Times Editor’s note: As this issue for June 15, 2014, was being put to bed, CNN was reporting that the jihadist rebel forces of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), had not let up on their push toward Baghdad.  CNN said  Sunni tribal leaders have lined up in support of radical Islamists from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, making their push toward Baghdad easier, a Saudi intelligence official told CNN’s Nic Robertson. CNN also gave the breakingnews that Iran had announced it’s willingness to come to the aid of the Iraqi government if asked.]

Iraqi security forces may have blunted the recent militant offensive, but the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant continues to wage its insurgency undaunted. In fact, the group and its allies, which include the Naqshbandi Army, Jamaat Ansar al-Islam and Jaish al-Muhajireen, are fanning out and striking weakly held government positions. To the northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has taken the towns of Jalula and As Sadiyah, as well as a number of nearby villages around the Himreen Mountains. The group is expected to converge next on Muqdadiyah, which Iraqi security forces currently hold.