Fanning the flames of
resistance By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - With US forces storming into western
districts of Fallujah early on Monday, seizing the main
city hospital and securing two key bridges over the
Euphrates River, the first stage of the long-expected
assault on the insurgent stronghold appears to be under
way.
This follows the interim Iraqi government's
declaration on Sunday of a state of emergency for 60
days throughout the country, except for Kurdish-run
areas of the north.
These developments
are expected to precipitate a new phase in the
resistance that, Asia Times Online contacts say, is
being coordinated from Samarra, the Sunni stronghold north
of Baghdad where at least 33 people were killed and
48 wounded, including a local police chief, in four
car-bomb attacks and clashes on Saturday.
The sources say the Iraqi resistance, comprising
nationalist Iraqi tribes, religious groups, former
Ba'ath Party and Iraqi Republican Guard members, as well
as foreign fighters, is being coordinated by Saddam
Hussein's former No 2, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who
has played an important role in cementing a unified
strategy among the different anti-US groups in the
country.
Izzat has used his influence as the
only devout Muslim in the former Ba'athist regime and
encouraged different Islamic groups from the north to
the south to make contact with local Ba'ath councils and
units of Iraqi forces.
Foreign infiltration
into the country is also continuing across largely
unguarded borders, notably from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Turkey, Jordan and Kuwait. "There is news that the majority
of the civilian population of Fallujah has been forced
to leave. This obviously affects Iraq's
neighbors," commented a leading Pakistani strategic expert,
retired Major-General Ghulam Umar.
Although the troubles
in Iraq have only drawn a cautious official response
from Muslim countries, including the Arab League asking
the US not to invade Fallujah, a far deeper impact has
been made on Muslim masses across the globe, where
increasingly they are becoming motivated to take up arms
in support of the Iraqi resistance. The Koran through
its teachings supports Muslims helping people in a state
of siege or intense oppression, regardless of religion.
Asia Times Online has learned from sources
in Saudi Arabia that as many as 10,000 Saudi youths
might be in or going to Iraq. And with the strong presence
of organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the
Islamic Jihad in such countries as Syria and Jordan, it can be
safely estimated that jihadis from these countries are
also flooding into Iraq, or are preparing to do so.
At the same time, the US has consistently
reaffirmed its determination to flush out the resistance
once and for all, making intensified clashes inevitable,
including possibly across Iraq's borders. The hardline
US approach has served to bring the many Arab tribes in
Iraq together. Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar, who is
himself a tribal chief from the northern Iraqi city of
Mosul, is a fierce critic of the Fallujah operation.
The US operation on Fallujah includes Battalion
36, an elite fighting force of Kurds and the Badr
Brigade (former exiled Shi'ite group in Iran) , as well
as combatants from Iraqi exile groups trained by the US
Central Intelligence Agency in Hungary before the war.
They are considered "alien", and their participation
beside US forces will not only provoke local tribal
sentiment, but also have an impact on countries such as
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria, and attract support for
the resistance, though from the grassroots level.
Saudi support According to
Saudi Arabia-based Arab News, 21 prominent Saudi
religious scholars have signed an open statement to the
Iraqi people legitimizing their resistance and forbidding
any cooperation or dealings with the occupying US
forces.
The scholars stressed the importance of
a unified Iraq, asking Iraqis to forsake personal,
regional or tribal interests to ensure that justice is
served among all. They also told the Iraqi people that
they should understand the reality they were living in
because "any vision that goes beyond seeing things in
their true perspective with all its details will end in
failure".
Signatories to the statement included
Sheikh Safar al-Hawali - who has been a mediator between
terrorists and the Saudi government in the past year -
Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, Sheikh Nasir al-Omar, Sheikh
Hatim al-Ouni, Sheikh Awad al-Qarni and Sheikh Saud
al-Finaisan.
Though Arab News gave the statement
prominence, its senior editor, Siraj Wahab, said its
authenticity had yet to be conclusively confirmed as it
was only posted on an Islamic website.
Significantly, scholars such as Salman and
al-Hawali were once supporters of Osama bin Laden, but
after September 11, 2001, they denounced al-Qaeda and restored
ties with Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto
ruler. The statement therefore sheds some light on the
undercurrents in Saudi society, where large segments
support the Iraqi resistance movement.
A similar
statement in favor of the Iraqi resistance was in the
offing in Pakistan, but the Pakistani intelligence
community intervened and prevented it from being
released for fear of widespread anti-US demonstrations.
At the same time, a countrywide demonstration program
planned by the banned Hizbut Tehrir was crushed through
mass arrests.
Syed Saleem Shahzad, is
Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be
reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
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Fanning the flames of
resistance
