Iraqis held their breath on June 5, amid the steady drumbeat of news about the spread of fighters carrying Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) banners in five Samarra neighborhoods and ISIS being engaged in fierce battles with Iraqi security forces.
The reason for the concern is that Iraqis have associated the city of Samarra with the Iraqi “civil war” (2006-2008) after al-Qaeda blew up the Askari shrine in the city in February 2006.