First, for one full year, Iraqi authorities did nothing to address peaceful protests by disaffected Sunnis in Anbar's cities, choosing instead to ignore the protesters' grievances until the situation became too difficult to resolve.
Second, Baghdad's inability to adequately deal with Sunni cities has stemmed from a lack of understanding of the tribal and religious composition of these places. In addition, incidents with ethnic overtones instigated by members of the security forces, the manner in which arrests were being made and treatment of detainees exacerbated the estrangement between Anbar's inhabitants on the one hand and the security forces and central authorities on the other.
Third, no effective political steps were taken to normalize Anbar-Baghdad relations. As a result, the nature of Sunni political representation in the government and political processes remained tense and tied to incessant resignations from office and cascading crises.
Fourth, regional repercussions — in particular involving Iranian, Gulf and Turkish influence — added to the perpetuation of tense relations among the various segments of Iraqi society as relations increasingly soured among Iraq’s neighbors.
Fifth, the eruption of the Syrian crisis created another opportunity for the level of political and social tensions to rise, as Iraqis failed to agree on a unified political stance toward the crisis or at least failed to decide on maintaining neutrality in an attempt to immunize the country from its repercussions.
The issue of Anbar, however, extends beyond these broad considerations, which primarily revolve around ongoing problems in the relationship between the Sunnis and Baghdad, as evidenced by the events leading to the current crisis. When the Iraqi government launched the operation Revenge for Commander Mohammed on Dec. 22, its strategic military objective was to secure the Iraqi-Syrian border and restrain the geographical reach of ISIS. This was aimed at weakening ISIS, which had spread along both sides of the border, and paved the way for subsequent operations against it in the Iraqi interior.
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