The visit to Iraq this week by new Joint Chiefs of Staff head Gen. Joseph Dunford comes at a pivotal moment for the Obama administration’s tacit strategy of cooperating with Iranian proxies against the Islamic State in the nation, even as officials in Baghdad claimed a key oil refinery had been retaken from the jihadi forces on Tuesday.
Gen. Dunford, a Marine, made no public mention of Iran’s role during his stops in Baghdad and Irbil. But he appeared eager to show Washington’s commitment to the fight at a time when Russia — a key ally of Iran — is wooing Iraq as the new go-to international partner against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
Speaking with reporters Tuesday on his first trip into the war zone since taking his new post three weeks ago, Gen. Dunford said he sees no immediate prospect for Russia, which is carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria over the past month, to expand its campaign into Iraq.
Russia’s military intervention in Syria and its participation in a new Baghdad-based intelligence-sharing cell with Iran, Syria and Iraq has raised concerns in Washington that its onetime Cold War rival is gaining influence in the Middle East.
But Gen. Dunford pushed back Tuesday against reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has sought seeking Russia’s help against the Islamic State, saying Iraqi officials denied they were seeking Russian airstrikes in Iraq.
And there were signs Moscow and Washington are trying to reduce bilateral frictions: The two countries put into practice on Tuesday new rules to minimize the risk of air collisions between Russian and U.S.-led coalition aircraft over Syria, according to The Associated Press.
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A Russian defense official in Moscow said the “memorandum of understanding” suggests a potential for U.S.-Russian counterterrorism cooperation, but U.S. officials said it was a narrow arrangement that does not lessen Washington’s concern about the Russian military campaign in Syria.
Two separate anti-Islamic State ground campaigns are playing out in Iraq. One in Ramadi, roughly 70 miles west of Baghdad, is being led by Iraqi government troops with direct air and advisory support from U.S. officials. The second is underway around a key oil refinery in Baiji, some 150 miles north of Baghdad, where Iraqi forces working with Iran-backed Shiite militias reportedly routed Islamic State fighters on Tuesday.
The role of the Iran-backed militias remains a sticky one for the Pentagon. While the Obama administration has pursued a new era of relations with Iran — including this summer’s milestone nuclear deal — the White House rejects any suggestion of cooperation between U.S. and Iranian forces in Iraq.
Russia’s military surge into neighboring Syria has some analysts predicting that Iraqi officials may seek a similar alliance.
The prospect has raised the stakes of Washington’s policy of backing Iraqi Security Forces against the Islamic State in Ramadi while turning a blind eye to Iran’s coordination with the ISF in areas north of Baghdad — specifically in Baiji, according to an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War.
“If the ISF are unable to clear ISIS from Ramadi, it will undermined the credibility of U.S. support to Iraq at a time when Russia and Iran are competing with the U.S. for leadership of anti-ISIS operations in Iraq and Syria,” states the report, compiled by Patrick Martin, a research assistant at the institute.
If ISF and Iranian proxy militias “succeed in recapturing Baiji and the nearby refinery while the ISF-led operation in Ramadi flounders, [Prime Minister Abadi] will face immense pressure to continue permitting the proxy militias to take a leading role in operations,” the report said.
The U.S. military’s balancing act was on display Tuesday when Gen. Dunford’s flight into Iraq was suddenly delayed by officials in Baghdad who briefly refused to allow his C-17 aircraft to land in Irbil, the capital of the Iraq’s Kurdish region.
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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