Bloomberg News
Gunmen fighting Iraqi government forces captured two towns northwest of Baghdad as the U.S. pressed leaders to form a new government to halt the nation's slide toward a sectarian civil war.
Fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaeda breakaway group, seized the towns of Ana and Rawa in the western, Sunni dominated Anbar province, according to a resident and Iraq's Al Mada news agency.
'Iraqi army and police forces withdrew and gunmen took control of the town without a fight,' Fadhil Mohamed, a resident of Rawa, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Baghdad, said by phone yesterday, referring to ISIL fighters. 'The situation is calm.'
Anbar's governor said the towns were taken over by tribesmen, not extremists, according to Al Arabiya television.
Iraq's crisis flared when ISIL fighters earlier this month captured Mosul, the country's biggest northern city, and engaged with Iraqi forces in towns just north of Baghdad. The U.S., which withdrew its forces from Iraq three years ago, has put the onus on leaders including Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to form a more inclusive government, as President Barack Obama weighs military options to help stop ISIL's advance.
The pace of U.S. diplomacy will intensify as Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in the region today for talks with Iraq's neighbors on its future. The U.S. has limited sway in Iraq as it seeks a political solution to the country's sectarian strife, potentially without Maliki, whose actions have alienated minority Sunnis and Kurds.
Maliki's Damage
The possibility of an Iraqi regime without Maliki gained credibility when the country's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, last week called for the formation of an 'effective' government 'that can avoid previous mistakes.'
The Obama administration is prodding Iraqi politicians to form a new government within weeks, short-circuiting the infighting and deal-making that has followed previous parliamentary elections.
'They don't have a lot of time,' Obama said in an interview with CNN on June 20.
Without bridging the sectarian divide, 'there's no amount of American firepower that's going to be able to hold the country together,' said Obama, who last week declined to express confidence in Maliki.
Sunni Alienation
The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the subsequent rise to power by the Shiite-Muslim majority, alienated their Sunni counterparts, who dominated the country during Saddam Hussein's era. Shiite Muslims have political and religious ties to Iran, while their Sunni counterparts have felt marginalized from the country's political process under al-Maliki.
Sunni Muslims are a majority in Anbar province and in areas north of Baghdad. The Shiites are the majority in the south, which has been spared the fighting so far and is where 60 percent of the country's crude reserves reside, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Kerry will consult with countries in the region that 'have a vital interest in ensuring that Iraq does not descend into civil war or become a safe haven for terrorists,' Obama said at the White House on June 19.
Iraq's Supreme Court certified the results of the nation's April 30 parliamentary elections on June 16. Under the constitution, the process of forming a new government is supposed to be completed within 60 days after that. Four years ago, the process dragged on for eight months.
Necessary Support
While Maliki's party came out on top once again in the latest vote, it's unclear whether he'll be able to assemble the support necessary to remain as prime minister, according to an Obama administration official who briefed reporters last week on condition of anonymity.
Maliki's party won 92 seats in the parliament, the most of any parliamentary bloc. Though that's short of the 165 needed for a majority, the National Alliance, dominated by Maliki's State of Law bloc, is part of a coalition that claimed more than 170 seats.
'Those who call for him to step down, step aside, or otherwise quit are ignoring the clear message of the last election: most Shi'a want him to stay in place and crack down on a Sunni insurgency,' said Daniel Serwer, a professor of conflict management at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.
Border Crossing
The Sunni insurgents led by ISIL have seized cities north of Baghdad and engaged in a back-and-forth battle to control the Baiji oil refinery, the nation's largest. Elite security forces were protecting the refinery after foiling ISIL's attack, state-sponsored al-Iraqiya television said yesterday.
The militants who attacked the refinery 'have been eliminated,' Qassem Ata, an Iraq security spokesman, said in a televised news conference yesterday. 'We are in a battle, we may retreat in one area and advance in another. This is natural.'
Militants seized the al-Qaim crossing at the Syrian border, Iraqi news agency al-Mada reported. Ata said citizens in al-Qaim, backed by security forces, are determined to 'purge the city,' from ISIL gunmen.
In the northern province of Salahuddin, Iraq security forces launched air-strikes on Tikrit University where ISIL fighters were gathering, Al-Mada press reported, citing sources it didn't identify.
Transporting Oil
Crude oil shipments from southern Iraq have been mostly unaffected by the fighting. Kurds are defending the Kirkuk oilfield in the north. Iraq pumped 3.3 million barrels a day of oil last month.
With the uncertainty imposed by the sectarian strife, Brent crude, which is used to price more than half of the world's oil, recorded a second weekly gain.
In authorizing the deployment of as many as 300 special operations advisers to Iraq, Obama stressed that the onus is on Iraqi leaders to resolve the crisis. The initial group of advisers arrived in Baghdad yesterday, CNN reported, citing a senior defense official it didn't identify.
Obama withdrew all U.S. troops from Iraq by December 2011 after the Maliki government failed to agree to a 'status of forces' agreement providing such legal protections.
Obama declined on June 19 to say that he continues to have confidence in Maliki, whose government the administration blames for inflaming sectarian tensions in OPEC's second-largest oil producer.
'It's not the place for the United States to choose Iraq's leaders,' Obama said. 'It is clear, though, that only leaders that can govern with an inclusive agenda are going to be able to truly bring the Iraqi people together and help them through this crisis.'
Under the Iraqi constitution, the first step following the recent elections is to convene the newly elected parliament, which is supposed to happen no later than July 1. After that, the parliament has 30 days to name a president, and then the president has 15 days to nominate a new prime minister.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alaa Shahine in Dubai at asalha@bloomberg.net; Nadeem Hamid in Washington at nhamid3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net; John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net Don Frederick
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