- Caught between militants and the Iraqi forces, residents of Tal Afar, a strategic Shia-dominated city, have fled their city even as the militant group took control of parts of the city advancing towards the capital.
- Military forces have been combating the rich-terrorist group as evidences of brutal violence against security forces emerged.
- The escalating crisis is drawing criticism from the Republican Party in the US for the premature withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and also pushing US towards talks with an all-time foe Iran.
- The crisis is also compounding fears of a possible overseas terror strikes in US or UK. US is considering drone strikes as means of aiding Iraq counter the terror forces.
- While UK has condemned the terror attacks, it categorically refused to intervene in Iraq.
- Former UK PM Tony Blair, who led Britain’s entry into Iraq invasion in 2003, called on the West to employ military intervention in Iraq. He also said that West’s refusal to intervene in Syria has led to the present terror crisis, besides denying that western intervention in Iraq led to the present conflagration.
- His comments drew sharp ridicule and criticism from all over, as many voiced out their opinions saying that it was the unfair western military invasion of Iraq that is the root cause of all the subsequent bloodshed.
- In 2013, the House of Commons, voted against the government’s proposal for military strikes against Syria. Britain pulled its last troops out of Afghanistan in early 2014.
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/no-takers-for-another-british-military-intervention/article6121386.ece
- http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/people-flee-fighting-in-shia-town/article6121388.ece
- http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/unlikely-allies/article6121394.ece
Exams Perspective:
- Sectarian Violence in Iraq
- UK Iran Bilateral Relations
- Gulf War II