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| boatman drives from the besieged town of Thuluyah, Iraq, which is now only accessible from the water. (Loveday Morris/The Washington Post) |
THULUYAH, Iraq — The metal-hulled
boats carry out the wounded for treatment, as well as fruit to sell at market.
In, they bring supplies of cooking gas, medicine and ammunition.
Cocooned in a bend in the Tigris
River, this town shaded by orange trees and date palm groves has long relied on
the waterway. But since Islamic State militants blew up the last bridge into
Thuluyah last week, the river is the only way in or out — complicating efforts
to resupply and reinforce beleaguered fighters here.
Thuluyah, 45 miles north of
Baghdad, has held out for more than three months against the Sunni extremists
attempting to expand their grip on Iraqi territory. But in a conflict that is
often framed as a Sunni-vs.-Shiite battle, here Sunni tribesmen are turning on
militants who claim to fight for their religion.
Tribal leaders hold up the town
as an example of how the battle against the Islamic State can be won, as the
war brings together unusual allies against a shared enemy. In some
Sunni-dominated towns, residents have welcomed the Islamic State as it rolled
into their neighborhoods in the past three months. But on the front lines of
Thuluyah, Sunni tribesmen, the police and the Iraqi army fight side-by-side. In
recent weeks they have been joined by Shiite militias that are notorious for
revenge killings against the Sunni sect.
“We asked for their help and now
we are dying together,” said Abed Mutlaq al-Jabbouri, a tribal leader. “This
situation has imposed a new reality: Everyone is fighting Islamic State. There
are no Sunnis, no Shiites. We are all sons of Iraq.”
Boats load and unload their loads
on the banks of the Tigris. The Sunni town of Thuluyah has been cut off by land
since Islamic State blew the last bridge across the river last week. (Loveday
Morris/The Washington Post)
Although the southern tip of
Thuluyah retains its oasis-like charm, its main street, once home to a bustling
market, bears the scars of battle. A large crater gapes in the road near the
main mosque, distinguished by its turquoise-tipped minaret. An explosives-laden
Humvee driven by a suicide bomber killed more than 20 people here earlier this
month. Another had blasted a way for it through the front lines minutes before.
An amusement park on the
peninsula’s east side now serves as a front-line position for tribal fighters,
police and a smattering of Iraqi soldiers, just hundreds of yards from the
Islamic State’s sphere of control. The militants crossed the river in an assault
this month, speeding across the Tigris in dinghies similar to the ones that
ferry supplies into the town, witnesses said. The militants attacked again
Thursday, residents said.
Hazem Abdel-Razzak, a 40-year-old
soldier dressed in fatigues, has been fighting in Thuluyah, also commonly
transliterated as Dhuluiya, for over 100 days. He is from Balad, a Shiite city
across the waterway, but he said he was not officially dispatched here, and
came as a volunteer.
“We are all together,” said
Hikmet Faisal Ali, a Sunni tribal fighter standing next to him.
It’s a marriage of convenience,
and it’s unclear how long the alliance will last.
Abbas Sadr, an 18-year-old
fighter with Kataib Hezbollah, the Shiite militia with the biggest role in the
town, guards the jetty in Balad. “We went in [to Thuluyah] when they asked us
to. Before that, they had rejected us,” he said. “They were really trapped.”
Now, the residents of Thuluyah
are even more trapped. Last Saturday, militants managed to blow up the last
wooden crossing into the town. It was their fourth attempt, residents said. The
attackers drove an explosives-packed boat in a suicide mission — detonating it
under the bridge.
(The Washington Post)
This time they had shielded the
boat in metal, protecting it from bullets fired by the Thuluyah forces.
The town’s main bridge across the
Tigris had been taken out during a suicide bus bombing in July.
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