War against ISIL will not be short

Iraqi troops’ ability to capture the oil refinery is Beiji is one success in an arduous campaign

ISIL militants guard a checkpoint outside Beiji refinery, some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, last month. AP Photo

The past week has been productive for the US-led coalition. As The National reported yesterday, Iraqi forces backed by the coalition, took control of Beiji, a strategic town north of Baghdad, lifting a months-long siege by ISIL on the country’s largest oil refinery. This is the latest setback for the militant group, which earlier this month lost hundreds of fighters in a stalled advance on the Syrian town of Kobani.

The accomplishment could be a turning point, because by controlling Beiji and, importantly, the road that runs between the refinery and the town, Iraqi forces can effectively cut off ISIL’s supply lines to Tikrit further south, which they still occupy.

However, there is a danger in thinking that this is an unstoppable tide, especially in the light of the fact that ISIL’s leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, was reportedly injured in an air strike last week. To understand how deep ISIL’s roots run and how difficult it will be to eradicate the group, one only needs to consider its plans to introduce its own currency in the areas under its control and reinstate an ancient Islamic dinar coin.

The challenge facing the coalition against ISIL was underscored by Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US military’s joint chiefs of staff, during a Congressional hearing on Thursday when he pointed out that the American-led effort in Iraq remains a long-term operation. He also revealed that the Pentagon was considering recommending that US troops fight alongside Iraqi forces, contradicting repeated pledges made by president Barack Obama that US combat troops would not return to Iraq. Secretary of defence Chuck Hagel acknowledged as much when he said that the threat of ISIL is “significantly worse” and that much more needs to be done to achieve the objectives.

The statements are a reminder that these battlefield successes are just some of the few in a long war and that US air power might have helped win the battle of Beiji, but it will not win the war so easily.