Iraq Deploys Shiite Militias to Ramadi to Fight IS Group

More than 3,000 Iraqi Shiite fighters arrived at a military base near the now Islamic State group-controlled western city of Ramadi on Monday.

The fighters belong to Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization group. The militia was asked by the central government in Bagdad to mobilize outside of Ramadi, the regional capital of the western province of Anbar, in a bid to retake it from the radical Islamist fighters.

The Islamic State group took complete control of the city Sunday following weeks of fighting and suicide attacks. On Friday, the group took over the government compound in the city, which contains the office of the Anbar province governor, the police headquarters and the intelligence offices.

However, the group sent Iraqi troops fleeing on Sunday, as they took over a military base within Ramadi that was the Iraqi forces' last position in the city. Officials said that 15 soldiers were killed in the fighting after several suicide bombings.

The Islamic State group said it had seized tanks and killed "dozens of apostates," its description for members of the Iraqi security forces. About 500 people have been killed in the fighting for Ramadi in recent days and up to 8,000 have fled, a spokesman for the provincial governor said.

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Many fear that this new move by the government would incite further sectarian sentiment. Ramadi is a majority Sunni city where many view the government-backed Shiite militias with suspicion. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a Shiite himself, authorized the deployment of the militias fighters.

The Islamic State group, an extremist Sunni group, claims to be the defender of the Sunnis in Syria and Iraq against the “Iran-backed” Shiites. However, residents expressed their reluctant welcome toward the Shiites, citing their fear of the radical Sunni group. One Ramadi tribal leader, Sheikh Abu Majid al-Zoyan, told the French News Agency AFP he was suspicious of the militias, but "at this stage, we welcome any force that will come and liberate us from the chokehold" of the Islamic State group.

Meanwhile, officials in the city said that the government should invest in organizing and arming the Sunni residents of the province. Tarik al-Abdullah, secretary-general of the al-Anbar council, a group of provincial tribal leaders, told Al-Jazeera Monday that the Shiite militias were "not very welcome."

“The government should be supplying weapons and training to volunteer fighters in the province, instead of using militias ... We need the support of the government. We have a big number of volunteers waiting to participate to liberate our province from [ISIL]," he added.