Some Anbar tribes threaten to halt fight against ISIS if not armed

Some tribes in the western province of Anbar threatened on Sunday to halt their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) unless the government in Baghdad gives them more arms, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

Tribal leader Shalaan al-Namrawi said: “Meetings between sheikhs from Anbar and Iraqi security leaders in Ain al-Assad and Ramadi military bases were futile when it came to our demand to for arms.”

He added: “We are facing a big dilemma, and will be massacred if the government continued to be like this.”

He said tribal fighters who had joined security forces also considering to suspend their fight against ISIS or even seek support from another party, he said.

Namrawi said Anbar tribes were left out as the Kurds were being supplied with arms from Europe and the United States and while Shiite volunteers were receiving weapons from the central government in Baghdad as well as training from Iran.

Hameed al-Hayis, one of the prominent figures in Anbar and former al-Sahwa Awakening, a force formed to fight al-Qaeda in 2005 but nonexistent now, said tribal envoys will visit Iran with the government’s support to discuss the issue.

Politicians in Anbar have always criticized the Shiite-dominated government of being influenced by Iran.

Also, an advisor for the Iraqi parliament for national reconciliation, Wahda al-Jumaili urged the formation of Sunni forces capable to rebel jihadists with international guarantees.