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WORLD NEWSFriday 11 March 2016

Iraq’s military falls short on logistics in fight against IS Yemeni rebels ask
partner Iran to stop
SUSANNAH GEORGE thousands of troops who more. Earlier this month, but also involved the Iraqi
exploiting civil war
SALAHUDDIN, Iraq (AP) — fled in the face of the IS Iraqi troops pushed to re- military. The ground troops

Iraq’s military is once again assault, more than 50,000 take territory northwest of were backed by both co- AHMED AL-HAJ
trying to dislodge Islamic troops were later revealed Samarra, 60 miles (95 ki- alition and Iraqi air strikes. Associated Press
State group fighters from to be ghost soldiers — non- lometers) from Baghdad, Past attempts to retake the SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A
the vast Samarra desert, existent troops whose pay and cut IS supply lines in same area have failed, top leader of Yemen’s Shi-
which stretches between was pocketed by senior advance of an eventual partly because the open ite rebels issued a harsh
newly recaptured territory commanders. push on Mosul. Iraqi officials terrain left Iraqi troops in- rebuke of ally Iran on Thurs-
in Anbar province and the day, calling on Tehran to
IS-held northern city of Mo- Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi’s convoy tours the front line in their fight against Islamic back away from the crisis
sul. Yet, as operations move State group militants in the Samarra desert, on the border between Anbar and Salahuddin prov- in Yemen.
further away from the capi- inces, Iraq. Iraqi forces are again trying to clear Islamic State group fighters from the sprawling Youssef al-Fishi, a top mili-
tal, government forces are deserts that stand between recent territorial gains in Anbar province and the IS-held city of Mosul tary commander of the
increasingly plagued by lo- to the north. rebels known as Houthis,
gistical shortcomings. asked Iranian officials to
Iraq’s minister of de- (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) “remain silent” and “stop
fense Khalid al-Obeidi on exploiting” the Yemeni civil
Wednesday toured Camp The ministry of defense of- say the fight was led by the creasingly vulnerable to war for their own interests.
Speicher, a military base 80 ficial spoke on condition Popular Mobilization Forc- IS counter-attacks as they The remarks, posted on
miles (130 kilometers) north of anonymity because he es, the government-sanc- advanced. al-Fishi’s Facebook page,
of the capital, Baghdad. was not authorized to brief tioned coalition of mostly The Samarra operation is in- underscore how the for-
Surrounded by a crowd of the press. Shiite militia groups — who tended to build on gains in merly firm Houthi-Tehran
assistants and military of- Following millions of dollars have proved to be one of the west of the country. alliance may be faltering
ficials, he carefully asked of investment, Iraq’s mili- the most effective fighting after a year-long Saudi-led
commanders about food tary is being tested once forces on the ground — Continued on page 27 air campaign targeting the
supplies, weapons deliver- rebels. The violence has left
ies and training. Yemen’s infrastructure in
“He’s very detail-oriented, ruins, killed more than 6200,
during the previous ad- and forcibly displaced 2.4
ministration the Iraqi mili- million people.
tary had a lot of issues with They were made against a
troops not being fed, in backdrop of a slight cool-
addition to, you know, the ing in the conflict between
larger payroll issues,” said the Houthis and Iran’s re-
an official from the minis- gional rival Saudi Arabia,
ter’s office. which recently negotiated
He was referring euphemis- a prisoner exchange with
tically to the entrenched the rebels.
corruption in the Iraqi mili-
tary, which was exposed in The rebuke came a day af-
the summer of 2014 when
the army all but collapsed ter Iranian deputy chief of
and Islamic State group
fighters captured Mosul. staff Gen. Masoud Jazayer
In addition to the tens of
was quoted by Iran’s Tas-

nim news agency as say-

ing that the Islamic Repub-

lic is ready to help Yemeni

people “in any possible

Saudi Arabia concludes 20-nation anti-terror drill level.” The comment was
in response to a question

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) on how to coordinate com- by the kingdom against Pakistan’s Prime Minister about whether Iran is ready

— Heads of state from bat operations and guer- its foes and send a strate- Nawaz Sharif and Sudan’s to send military advisors to

across the Muslim world rilla warfare tactics among gic message to Iran and President Omar al-Bashir, Yemen as it did in Syria.

gathered in Saudi Arabia the Muslim-majority coun- extremist Sunni groups like as well as a number of The level of Houthi-Iranian

on Thursday for the conclu- tries that are members of al-Qaida and the Islamic other African leaders, and cooperation remains un-

sion of a nearly three-week- a larger counter-terrorism State group. The drills in- senior royals from neighbor- clear, as is the extent of
long counter-terrorism mili- alliance announced by the cluded troops from Egypt, ing Gulf countries such as the relationship between
tary exercise that included kingdom in December. Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, ousted President Ali Abdul-
20 participating countries. The exercise comes amid Jordan, Sudan and the six- Qatar, Bahrain and Oman lah Saleh — whose forces
Saudi state television car- heightened tensions be- nation Gulf Cooperation were also in attendance are fighting alongside the
ried images of tanks firing tween Saudi Arabia and its Council. Other countries Thursday. Houthis — and Iran.
missiles and helicopters cir- regional rival Iran as they that contributed include There has been no official The Houthis have been ac-
cling overhead in what lo- back opposite sides of the Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, announcement on how cused of receiving weap-
cal media have called the wars in Syria and Yemen. Maldives, Mauritania, Mo- many troops were involved ons from Iran. A report by
largest exercise ever held Also on Thursday, state me- rocco, Senegal, and Tu- in the exercises. Accord- the United Nations panel
in the Middle East in terms dia reported Saudi Arabia nisia. At the final military ing to IHS Jane’s Defense of experts on Yemen re-
of the number of countries is building a new airbase show, Saudi Arabia’s King Weekly Middle East and leased in February and ob-
taking part. to protect the kingdom’s Salman was shown seat- Africa editor Jermey Bin- tained by The Associated
The military drills, dubbed airspace in Hafr al-Batin, ed between Kuwait’s Emir nie, the exercise appears Press said that the panel is
“Northern Thunder”, took where the military exercises Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed to have been smaller in investigating the alleged
place in an area near Sau- took place. al-Sabah and Egypt’s Presi- troop size than the “Bright transfer of anti-tank guid-
di Arabia’s northeastern Analysts on state-run Saudi dent Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Star 2000” held in Egypt in ed missiles from Iran to the
border with Iraq and Ku- TV said the military exer- Saudi Arabia’s official 1999, which involved 73,000 Houthis.
wait. The training focused cises are a show of force news agency reported troops from 11 countries.