(Washington Times) Carlo Munoz - After Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shiite militias flushed ISIS out of Fallujah in June, the dead bodies started to appear. Reports emerged that as many as 300 Sunni Muslim civilians had survived Islamic State's two-year grip on their city only to be summarily executed by Shiite militiamen. Sunni lawmaker Hamid al-Mutlaq said Iraqi troops and Shiite political leaders were nowhere to be seen when Shiite fighters rounded up between 600 and 700 Sunni men in Fallujah who've never been seen since. The paramilitary Shiite Popular Mobilization Units now number over 120,000 fighters. Many fear the growing strength of the Shiite militias has blown the door wide open for Tehran to expand its already formidable influence in Iraq.
2016-09-23 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive