Why Shiites unwilling to join fight against ISIS in Iraq?

Baghdad, Mar 11: Shiites in Iraq have started losing interest in fight against the Islamic State (ISIS). Shiites are not willing to send their youth to take part in fight against the terror outfit.

"Ït is no use for the Shiites to participate in the upcoming Mosul battle because the citizens hate them, and taking part in these battles will not end this enmity," Al-Monitor quoted Haidar al-Khafaji, a Shiite whose son died while fighting against ISIS in Tikrit on July 12, 2014.

There is lot of discontentment among Shiites as they feel that their sacrifices for the country is not being appreciated by the Sunnis.

Hostility between them went up during the Baathist regime when Shiites were suppressed by the Sunnis. Shiite leaders and clerics were assassinated and removed from high-level positions during Saddam Hussein regime.

"Yes, many Iraqis no longer have national zeal, and they are no longer driven by slogans that pushed them to liberate regions in the past. Many have even joined IS, social researcher Ali al-Hussein told Al-Monitor.

A sense of ingratitude on the part of some Sunnis towards Shiites, who consider them as militias among the reasons are de-motivating Shiite men from fighting to liberate Mosul and Fallujah

Shiite journalist Walid Taei supports the idea of not involving Shiite youth in the fighting in Sunni areas. He told Al-Monitor, "The Shiite sacrifices will be in vain for Iraq's Sunnis, who curse the martyrs and consider them a sectarian militia."

However, a Sunni man who moved from Ramadi to Baghdad, told Al-Monitor, "These claims are false. The fact is that I have volunteered with dozens of Sunni youths in the Popular Mobilization Units and that both Sunnis and Shiites are citizens of this homeland. The sectarian stances of some Sunnis or Shiites do not apply to everyone."

While another researcher find, Sunni organizations, such as al-Qaeda and IS, that went too far in shedding Shiite blood behind the Shiites' conviction that the armed confrontation is the only choice they have."

OneIndia News