Iraq's Sunni fighting force still months away - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Mona Alami

Mona Alami

May 4, 2015

Sunni tribesmen take part in a military training, as they prepare to fight against militants of the Islamic State, on the outskirt of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, November 16, 2014. Islamic State's systematic massacre of hundreds of Iraq's Albu Nimr tribe should have been an unmistakable wake up call for a country that may not be able to stabilise without long-term support from Sunni tribesmen. Picture taken November 16, 2014. REUTERS/Ali al-Mashhadani (IRAQ - Tags: CONFLICT MILITARY POLITICS) - RTR4EH9R — Sunni tribesmen take part in a military training, as they prepare to fight against militants of the Islamic State, on the outskirts of Ramadi, Nov. 16, 2014. — REUTERS/Ali al-Mashhadani

Former Iraqi insurgents, members of the Sunni Anbar Awakening, guard a meeting between Sunni and Shiite tribe leaders and clerics in al-Duwanem, southwest of Baghdad, 25 September 2007. The aim of the meeting is to bring back life to the town after it was cleared from al-Qaeda. The formation of the Sahwat al-Anbar, or Anbar Awakening, the grouping of Anbari tribes and former insurgents opposed to Al-Qaeda, traces back to last year, when Al-Qaeda in Iraq conducted its campaign of murder and intimidation thro

Iraqi lawmaker calls for arming tribes amid attacks on Sunni communities

Shelly Kittleson

Shelly Kittleson

In Baghdad, reporting on Iraqi politics

Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh speaks during his joint news conference with Jordanian Minister of Interior Hussein Al-Majali and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative to Jordan Andrew Harper to officially announce the opening of the new Azraq Syrian Refugee camp near Al Azraq, east of Amman, April 30, 2014. Azraq Refugee Camp received the first group of Syrians and its divided into 12 villages with a holding capacity of 5 to 15,000 people per village, in a total land a

Relations with Maliki on edge as Jordan courts Iraq's Sunnis

Osama Al Sharif

Osama Al Sharif

Protesters hold up Iraqi flags and pictures of their relatives who were killed during the Saddam era in a rally against the return of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, in Kerbala, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad February 10, 2010. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammed (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS) - RTR2A18M

Iraqi provinces take ex-Baathists to court

Mustafa al-Kadhimi

Mustafa al-Kadhimi

Iraqi Sunni Muslims perform Friday prayers during an anti-government demonstration in Tikrit, 150 km (93 miles) north of Baghdad, January 4, 2013. The protesters were demanding the release of Sunni detainees in government prisons and called for major reforms against corruption in the government. REUTERS/Bakr al-Azzawi (IRAQ - Tags : - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3C3SF

Iraq: Mixed Legacy In Saddam's Hometown