The week notes that "the Iraqi government launched a major offensive this week, aimed at wresting back the city of Tikrit from the forces of Islamic State. The mainly Sunni city – best known to Westerners as the hometown of Saddam Hussein – fell to the extremists in July 2014.
The Iraqi forces were being aided by thousands of Iranian-backed Shia militias, as well as troops from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. This caused unease in the US – which was reportedly not informed about the Tikrit offensive – and raised fears that the battle against Isis would only inflame the sectarian tensions that the militants have already exploited.
Last week, footage of Isis extremists destroying a collection of Assyrian antiquities in a museum in Mosul (pictured) caused global outrage. Men could be seen pushing statues off their pedestals and smashing them with sledgehammers. One of them explained: “These antiquities and idols behind me were from people in past centuries and were worshipped instead of God.”
It was not clear, however, how many of the statues were original: curators at Iraq’s National Museum in Baghdad, which re-opened this week, said that at least some of them were plaster casts, and that the originals were housed there in Baghdad and in other collections."
Now remember Iran and Iraq fought a huge and ugly war not that long ago. Iran and USA are at nuclear arming loggerheads, USA has invaded Iraq twice in last few decades, UK and USA almost went on to war with Syria last year. Etc etc.
Yet currently Iraqi forces with overt Iranian backing in the form of Revolutionary Guards and USA acquiescence and with Syrian delight are attempting to take back the city of Tikrit from ISIS.
It surely shows what a mess our foreign policy is in.
And for once - my enemies enemy is my enemy.
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