RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, GERMANY // A series of deadly attacks by ISIL operatives in and around Baghdad may be a sign that the militants are “reverting to their roots” as a terrorist organisation, the top US commander for the Middle East said on Wednesday.
Army Gen Joseph Votel, the head of US Central Command, said this does not mean ISIL has given up its ambition to create a so-called caliphate. However, he said, it marks a new turn in tactics aimed at diverting attention from the group’s recent battlefield losses.
Gen Votel said the attacks that have rocked Baghdad over the past week – killing upward of 200 civilians – are an illustration of the dynamic nature of the war.
“We have to respect our enemies and respect their ability to adapt and adjust on the battlefield,” he said, speaking to reporters while travelling to the Middle East.
“In this regard, some of the attacks we’re seeing in Baghdad – I think we are seeing a manifestation of that. We are seeing them see opportunities and take advantage of those opportunities,” he added.
“I think they believe it will cause the Iraqi government to divert forces, divert effort, divert intellectual horsepower to solving those problems” as opposed to priorities like recapturing the ISIL stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq. His visit this week to the region comes amid concern about the slow pace of Iraqi military operations to recapture Mosul.
Now that ISIL has lost 40 per cent or more of the terrain it once controlled in Iraq, “they may be reverting in some regards back to their terrorist roots”, he said.
The increase in attacks coincides with a political crisis over prime minister Haider Al Abadi’s efforts to replace the current cabinet.
The crisis has paralysed the legislature for weeks, and demonstrators angered by lawmakers’ lack of progress stormed parliament last month.
Gen Votel said he sees reason for “a little concern” about political paralysis that has gripped the Iraq government in recent weeks.
Colonel Steve Warren, the spokesman for the international operation against ISIL, cited the group’s battlefield setbacks as the primary motivation for the increase in Baghdad attacks.
But he also said that ISIL may see political turmoil in the capital as “an opportunity they can try to exploit using truck bombs”.
At least 69 people were killed on Tuesday in a wave of bombings claimed by ISIL that struck outdoor markets and a restaurant in Shiite-dominated neighbourhoods of Baghdad.
The deadliest of the recent attacks were triple car bombings that hit Baghdad last Thursday which killed at least 94 people.
“Baghdad is now being targeted because the group is on the defensive and they can still hurt the government in their capital,” said Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer who is now with The Soufan Group consultancy.
* Associated Press and Agence-France Presse
