Shiite militia

The Iraqi government's effort to integrate a Shiite militia, the al-Hashd al-Shaabi, into the country's security forces is concerning as it might increase Iran's influence with Baghdad, a U.S. general said on Nov. 30. 

Iraqi paramilitary forces, the al-Hashd al-Shaabi, announced Nov. 16 that they had entered the Tal Afar airport west of Mosul and were fighting to clear pockets of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists inside it.

A spokesman of a Shiite militia said Nov. 2 that its fighters have gained control of a highway linking the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)-held city of Mosul to the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants' self-proclaimed caliphate.

Turkish Armed Forces have begun deploying tanks and other armored vehicles from the Ankara-based 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade to Silopi in Şırnak near the border with Iraq, Anadolu Agency reported Nov. 1, three days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the country would reinforce its troops along its border. 

Turkey will reinforce its troop deployments in the border town of Silopi amid a possible Shiite offensive to liberate Tal Afar, which has a sizeable ethnic Turkmen population and is considered a sensitive target for Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

Iraqi paramilitaries launched an operation on Oct. 29 to retake the town of Tal Afar from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and cut jihadist supply lines from Mosul to Syria, a spokesman said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declined an offer from Turkey to take part in the battle to dislodge Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from Mosul after meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter in Baghdad on Oct. 22.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan definitely wants Turkey to be part of the Mosul operation and has the support of nationalists and Islamists alike. For the former, this is a matter of national honor because they believe Mosul belongs to Turkey by birthright.

The operation to save Mosul, Iraq's second biggest city, from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has begun. It is led by the Shiite-dominated Iraqi army, Shiite militias, Kurdish Peshmerga forces, some Sunni forces trained by Turkey, and of course the United States, which is coordinating the whole effort. Turkey, however, is rather angry about what is going on. Why?

As if we were short of tension in this region, a brand new crisis has erupted between Turkey and Iraq. 

Last week Baghdad bridled at Turkey's military presence in Bashiqa, a base north of Mosul where Turkey has been training Sunni fighters and Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga. The U.S. has sided with the central government of Iraq on this longstanding issue between Ankara and Baghdad.