Iraqi Army Pulls Out of Heet Military Base

Anbar Increasingly Under ISIL Control – Threatening Baghdad

 

Iraqi troops stationed on the edge of the city of Heet in the restive Anbar province have withdrawn to Asad Air base, northeast of the city, leaving Heet, on the Euphrates, under full control of the Islamic State.

“Iraqi forces evacuated Heet camp last night (Sunday) on the orders of the military command,” said a senior Iraqi official in Ramadi. “They would be used to shore up the defense of Asad Air Base.” (AFP, 13 October)

Asad is a major military base and one of the last still under government control in Anbar. Military aircraft picked up senior officers from Heet base, and the rest of the force drove in a convoy to Asad.

Government forces have suffered a string of setbacks in Anbar in recent weeks, and the provincial capital of Ramadi could be overrun by ISIL. The insurgents already control parts of the city.

Islamic State’s advance in Anbar creates real threat against Baghdad. They are now very close to Sunni-dominated small towns and villages west of Baghdad.

General Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that the insurgents could blend in with disenfranchised Sunni population of those towns and villages, raising the chances of attacks against targets in Baghdad. Although he added that an outright assault on Baghdad remains unlikely.

Dempsey  also warned of possibility of indirect fire on Baghdad.

“I have no doubt there would be days when they use indirect fire into Baghdad,” said Gen. Dempsey. (ABC/NYT, 13 October)

Indirect fire refers to the use mortar, rockets or artillery from a distance.

File photo: The carnage after car bombs in Ramadi, September 2014 (AFP)