ISIS 'hit and run' tactics reveal Iraqi security weaknesses

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is briefly occupying Sunni neighborhoods then immediately withdrawing, to weaken confidence in Iraqi forces and display its power.
A man, who was injured during a suicide bomber attack in Mwafaqiya village at Mosul, lies in a hospital bed after he was brought for treatment in a hospital in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, June 6, 2014. Militants fought Iraqi security forces in the northern city of Mosul on Friday, a day after parts of another city were briefly overrun by insurgents. A curfew was imposed on Mosul on Thursday, when Sunni Islamist insurgents moved into parts of the city of Samarra, bringing them wit
A man, who was wounded during a suicide bomber attack in Mosul, lies in a hospital bed after he was brought for treatment in a hospital in Erbil, June 6, 2014. - REUTERS
mushreq Abbas.JPG
Mushreq Abbas
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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.

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