Sunnis against Sunnis

They were forded to line up and then were shot: men, women, and children of the Al Bu Nimr tribe in the Iraqi province of Anbar. At least 300 members of the tribe, who live in the region of the Euphrates dam near Haditha, are reported to have been executed in the last week by members of the "Islamic State." The victims apparently refused to bow to the laws of the caliphate, which "IS" calls its self-declared state. This murderous militia spares no one: Shia, Christians, Yazidis, Turkmenis, Shabak - all of Iraq's ethnic groups have become victims of IS - now they are killing Sunnis too, with whom they share a faith.

News from Iraq's largest province only rarely filters to the outside world. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki imposed a news ban that has not been lifted by his successor Haider al-Abadi. It has also become very dangerous for journalists to enter Anbar. It took a meeting of northern Iraqi tribal leaders in Baghdad over the weekend to bring news of the Al Bu Nimr massacre outside of the region. The leaders wanted to develop a joint strategy against the Islamic State, but they are divided. Many of the tribes are not ready to work with the Iraqi government. Others are uncertain, particularly after hearing about the price exacted by IS on Al Bu Nimr after the tribe made clear its position of supporting government security forces.

Witch hunt against Sunnis

Matlb Ali Al-Mesary, head of a Fallujah tribe and president of a confederation of allied tribes, is one of the leaders who came to Baghdad. He has taken off the traditional long cloak, white cap, and his black cord in favor of a suit and tie. "I was threatened," he said. "All the Sunni sheikhs of Anbar have to fear for their lives."

He said he and his tribe have come under threat from the former Prime Minister Maliki, a Shia whose suppression of Sunnis went as far as the sheikh's homes. Soldiers from the Iraqi Army used to attack houses in Fallujah, Ramadi, and other Anbar towns. They confiscated all weapons, arrested men and several women, and accused them of terrorism.

"The soldiers were Shiites, like the prime minister," says Al-Mesary. He claims that Shiite leaders got all the support they needed - weapons, equipment, money: "By the end we had nothing, we couldn't even feed our families properly: they left us defenseless." And then came "Daesh," as IS, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL, is called in Arabic.

Easy in Anbar

In the end, it was easy for IS to find a foothold in Anbar, he said. For a year, the Sunni tribes protested against the repression they suffered under the Maliki government. There were protest camps in Fallujah and Ramadi that were usually peaceful. But the demands they made of the central government went unanswered. Instead, the Iraqi Army tried violently to suppress the camps, which radicalized many people.

When IS conquered Fallujah in January, they found support from inhabitants willing to cooperate - at that time, the enemy was not IS, but Maliki. The terrorist militia was able to expand to the rest of the province. They are now said to be in control of both 80 percent of Anbar, which borders Syria and Jordan. The governor of the province called for foreign intervention, saying that the Iraqi Army was no longer in a position to fight back, as more and more soldiers deserted and had to be replaced by Shiite volunteers.

Calling Fallujah

Matlb spoke to Abu Tarek, a friend in Fallujah, on the phone to check the situation there. Tarek told him that the cost of living is rising to astronomical heights - a bottle of cooking gas now costs 40,000 Iraqi dinars (27 euros, $34) - nine times more than normal. There is no more medication and food has to be smuggled into the region. There are airstrikes and shells fired day and night. Yet, the IS fighters still receive support from the population. Many refugees have returned, Tarek said. IS is establishing itself in the town, taking care of refugee collection, water provision, power. Employees are paid by the militia. Many, according to Matlb, fear airstrikes more than they do IS. Matlb's conversation with Tarek ended an explosion cut the phone connection.

All the hope now rests on the new prime minister, who took office at the start of September. He is supposed to heal the deep sectarian rift between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq. Observers have said Iraq may only be able to hold off IS if the country's Shiite and Sunni populations work together.

Al-Abadi had great difficulty forming a unity government that covered all of Iraq's myriad groups. It took six weeks for him to find two candidates to fill the posts of defense and interior ministers able to command a majority.

"None of our conditions have yet been fulfilled," said Matlb, trying to explain why Sunni tribes have been reluctant to support the government against IS. One of these was to stop the arbitrary airstrikes on civilians in Fallujah. Airstrikes like the one that cut him off from his friend.