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Flurry of Sunni Triangle ops sparks questions over Islamic State

Several large military operations conducted in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq in recent weeks and mass killings have raised questions over whether a much-debated IS resurgence is actually in the making or whether the roots of the problem lie elsewhere.

Iraqi security forces guard a symbolic funeral procession attended by high-ranking officials in Baghdad on October 23, 2019 for Major General Ali al-Lami, a commander of the Iraqi Federal Police's Fourth Division, who was killed the previous day in Samarra in the province of Salahuddin, north of the Iraqi capital. - The police commander was killed in an ambush on October 22 which Iraqi security forces blamed on dormant cells of the Islamic State (IS) group. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD A
Iraqi security forces guard a symbolic funeral procession attended by high-ranking officials for Maj. Gen. Ali al-Lami, a commander of the Iraqi Federal Police's Fourth Division, who was killed in an ambush the previous day in Samarra in the province of Salahuddin, north of the Iraqi capital, Baghad, Iraq, Oct. 23, 2019. — Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images

ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan — Mass killings, including ones in which attackers wore military attire, and counterterrorism operations on a near-daily basis have revived concerns about an oft-prophesized Islamic State (IS) "resurgence" in areas northwest of Baghdad.

While many analysts say low-level insurgency may continue for quite some time without this leading to any territorial control by the nonstate actors, locals contacted by Al-Monitor put the blame for the latest attacks on armed forces deployed there.

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